LOGAN – Challengers in local races for state offices seem to be determined to make public education funding an issue in the upcoming November election.
During a forum sponsored by the Cache Valley League of Women Voters on Aug. 26, Democratic candidate Nancy Huntley and unaffiliated candidate Patrick Belmont both cited lack of adequate funding for public education as one of the state’s many problems.
“I’m particularly concerned now about public education and respect for our fundamental freedoms,” Huntley says on her campaign website.
A resident of River Heights, she is attempting to unseat incumbent Republican state Sen. Chris Wilson in Senate District 2.
“Recent actions by the legislative super-majority threaten both,” Huntley added.
Belmont, running against River Heights Mayor Jason Thompson for House District 3, echoes Huntley’s concerns both in public comments and on his campaign website.
“We have more than 30,000 teachers in Utah,” he says. “But the Legislature has only made it harder for them to do their jobs.
“Utah currently has the lowest per student funding and some of the lowest teacher pay in the U.S. This problem was made even worse recently with the Legislature’s voucher programs that divert public funding for schools to other entities, without any meaningful accountability.
“Utah also has one of the worst student-to-teacher ratios (over 21 students per teacher),” Belmont adds “And extremist legislators have been overreaching into classrooms with their personal agendas in recent years.”
Facing off against those same challengers in a leadership forum hosted by the Cache Valley Chamber of Commerce on Sept. 17, however, incumbent Wilson argued that he and legislative colleagues in the so-called GOP “super-majority” have nothing to apologize for in terms of support for public education.
“In the four years that I’ve been in the Legislature,” he said, “funding for public education has gone from $5.5 billion in 2020 to the appropriated 2025 budget of $8.4 billion.
“That’s a more than 30 percent increase.”
In Utah’s record $29 billion budget approved by the Legislature in 2024, for example, lawmakers allocated a more than $211 million boost for the Weighted Pupil Unit; an extra $40 million for the Utah Fits All Scholarship program; $8.4 million for 1,400 previously unpaid student teachers; $8.4 million in one-time funds for school supplies; $74 million for over-time pay; $150 million for teachers bonuses; $100 million for school security; $100 million for firearm instruction for teachers; and, $35.5 million in one-time funds to ease the public school’s transition away from charging activity fees starting in the 2025-26 academic year.
“We’ve come a long way in four years,” Wilson emphasized. “Utah is now in the top ten of states for starting teacher salaries; top 20 for average teacher salaries; and also provides educational stipends of $6,000 for student teachers.”
In a recent newsletter to constituents, Wilson also cited the Legislature’s support for expanded all-day kindergarten, increased educator preparation days and online education programs.
“There’s no better investment that we can make for our state than to invest in public education,” Wilson told the leadership forum audience, “because that’s an investment in the future of our children.”
The upcoming general election is slated for Tuesday, Nov. 5.
Mail-in ballots for the general election will begin to be mailed out to registered Cache County voters on Tuesday, Oct. 15.