Utah State Board of Education contends how to cut millions from public schools

SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — The Utah State Board of Education spent hours debating how to cut millions from public schools after lawmakers ordered a 5% reduction to the state education budget.

Proposed cuts to school-based mental health programs drew sharp criticism.

The Utah State Board of Education met for the first time on Thursday since receiving a letter on Jan. 5 from the Legislature’s Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee directing the board to recommend ways to meet the reduction. Two draft budget options were made public on Wednesday, prompting swift backlash from parents, educators, and advocacy groups.

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The largest cut included in both proposals is the Utah Fits All voucher program, which allocates funds for private school or home-schooled students.

Both proposals also include cuts affecting programs for students with disabilities attending private schools, dual immersion programs, early literacy software, technology initiatives, art education programs, and some funding tied to salary increases.

One proposed cut that is already emerging as highly contested: eliminating suicide prevention and mental health screening programs in schools.

Joseph Kerry, a member of the state board, said the public reaction was immediate once the proposed budgets became public.

“All of our phones started to blow up with people texting and emailing and calling saying, ‘You’re cutting suicide prevention,'” said Joseph Kerry. “In that short period of time, we’ve received over 1,500 emails on these issues.”

Kerry and other board members said they were not given adequate time to debate what budget to recommend to the state Legislature. The board is expected to deliver that recommendation to the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee on Friday.

“People should be running to this table to talk to us. We need time,” board member Erin Longacre said. “We need to make sure that when we vote for these cuts, you look at these kids in the face. I want the legislature to walk through the halls of these schools, and you tell those kids what programs you’re going to cut.”

Longacre urged lawmakers to look elsewhere in the state budget for savings, saying education should not bear the brunt of reductions.

Advocates for school-based mental health programs warned that eliminating those programs could have serious consequences for students.

“Absolutely, these programs in schools save lives,” said Sarah Stroup, legislative chair for the Utah Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.

Stroup works with children and was on the front lines of the Herriman Suicide Clusters in 2017 and 2018. She said the youngest patient she has seen dealing with suicidal ideation is 6-years-old.

“We know that Utah has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the country, and we are seeing the age for suicidality get younger and younger,” Stroup said.

Stroup said students struggling with anxiety, trauma, or suicidal thoughts cannot fully engage in learning without mental health support.

“If we have kids who are struggling with anxiety, if we have kids who are struggling with suicidality, with trauma they’re not going to be focused on math. They’re not going to be focused on reading,” she said. “If we don’t have mental health in schools, I don’t see how education actually happens.”

Stroup said the impacts of these potential cuts will be felt differently by each school district but could include up to 350 people losing their jobs including counselors, school therapist, and social workers, cuts to peer suicide prevention groups and anti-bullying programs, and mental health screening being eliminated.

“A lot of the mental health support we put in schools was because […] of the increase in youth suicides,” Stroup said. “The thought of those going away… In reality, the consequences will probably be an increase in youth suicide. And we just can’t have that be acceptable for our state.”

Rep. Steve Eliason, who sponsored a bill that set standards for mental health screenings in schools, called the proposed cuts “baffling.” He questioned budgetary priorities.

“It would be confusing to me to cut mental health funding before first cutting funding for vision and hearing… which are critical, and we’ve done in Utah for years, but do not cause any loss of life. As compared to suicide … which is a leading cause of death amongst youth. Where are our priorities?” Eliason said.

Board members repeatedly noted that while they are tasked with making recommendations, final authority over the budget rests with the Utah Legislature. Some expressed concern that their input may not ultimately influence lawmakers’ decisions.

“It’s either going to happen with us or without us,” one board member said.

There was a motion to postpone the budgetary discussion until the board had more time to discuss program cuts with both the Public Education Appropriations Subcommittee and their constituents. This motion ultimately failed, with some board members citing concern that, if they don’t present a recommendation, the board’s expertise will not be considered in the Legislature’s budget decisions.

“Is this how government works?” Longacre asked during the meeting. “If we don’t come to a decision, we get cut out?”

The board moved on from the budgetary agenda item and did not come to a conclusion on what budget to recommend.

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