by Elizabeth Garbe
Public Policy Director
WE NEED YOUR VOICE!
SB71, Senator Osmond’s Results-based Financing for Early Childhood Education, is aimed at creating greater access to high-quality early childhood opportunities for at-risk youth. High-quality early education helps close the achievement gap and ensures children have a higher chance of success in life. The bill also enables Utah to begin to invest in prevention while meeting current needs, by infusing additional dollars into the education system. Senators are hearing from the opposition, so please take a few minutes to respond to this Action Alert and let Senators know that you support high-quality preschool for 3 and 4 year-olds and that SB71 helps set the stage for life-long success.
Yesterday SB56, Utah 211 Information and Referral Network, was passed out of the House Education Public Utilities and Technology Committee and is now headed to the floor. There were a lot of great questions by Committee members and it is important that Representatives hear from you about the important role 2-1-1 plays in our community. Please take a few minutes and respond to this Action Alert asking Representatives to vote Yes on SB56.
New revenue estimates are out. While one-time funds are coming in higher than believed in November, ongoing funds are lower than projected. With sequestration looking like it will be implemented, there will be cuts to education and many critical health and human service programs. This means there will be less money to spend on new programs or programs that have been funded by one-time funds in the past. You can read the House Majority’s take on the estimates and view a PDF HERE.
Appropriation Committees are in the process of prioritizing funding requests. These lists will be presented to Executive Appropriations, who develop the final state budget. United Way’s top two priorities this session both have funding requests associated with them. We will keep you posted on any next steps.
Remember to join the conversation on Twitter! Follow us @UWSL and use hashtags #utleg and #utpol.
