MANTI, Utah — A line of elementary school students formed outside Manti Elementary School to greet Governor Spencer Cox, escorting him inside the building to a tiny folding table.
"This is where you’ll be signing your bill," one student told him, pointing to the table.
"Perfect!" the governor replied.
Gov. Cox signed into law House Bill 396, which changes the funding formula for schools in rural Utah. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Karen Peterson (R-Clinton), said it offers more money to rural schools who don't have the tax base that urban ones do.
"In these schools that don’t have the same tax base, the same opportunities there's an additional amount of funding that comes into these schools," Gov. Cox told reporters following the bill signing ceremony.
Previously, the Utah State Legislature would do one time appropriations for rural schools.
"We really do have to think about economies of scale. We just can’t create that in rural Utah like we can on the Wasatch Front," Rep. Peterson told FOX 13 News. "So we have to make sure that those students have the resources so they can have a teacher, they can have a principal, they can have a bus driver, all those things that really are important to making school happen for our rural students."
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The bill is seen as a real opportunity for rural school districts. They can use the money to offer teachers more competitive wages, hire bus drivers or offer new classroom programs.
"We have to provide the same services but we have a lower number of students so whether there’s 10 students in a classroom or 30 students in a classroom, you still have to have a teacher in the front of the room," said Koby Willis, the superintendent of the Piute School District.
Under the bill, as a school district grows it would draw down less money. Rep. Peterson said she envisioned that happening with some Wasatch Front school districts that are seeing increasing urbanization.
"Gov. Cox has said multiple times we’re trying to provide a high-quality education regardless of zip code," Willis said. "That zip code doesn’t determine the quality of education and this bill is one big step toward making that happen."
