The Park City Education Foundation has done it again. The organization last week announced record-breaking results for its annual fall Beat the Call fundraiser, money that will be pumped into classrooms and benefit every student who attends school in the Park City School District.
Parkites are grateful for the foundation, which has served students for more than three decades. The programming it funds, from visual arts education for elementary students to STEM learning at the secondary schools, is essential, going beyond what the district alone can provide given that the state distributes the bulk of the district’s tax revenues to other school systems in Utah. The foundation’s efforts are a major reason why Park City remains such a fantastic place to raise a family.
But from a different perspective, the importance of the foundation to the educational experience in Park City raises a concern, along with a pair of questions: Why is it left to a nonprofit to fill a role that should instead be the responsibility of Utah’s public education system? And shouldn’t students all over the state have the opportunity to take part in programs like the ones the foundation provides rather than just the children fortunate enough to live in a wealthy ski town?
The answer to both questions seems to be a shoulder shrug, at least from the people who matter most: Utah lawmakers, who decide each winter how much of the state’s budget will be spent on public education. The state for years has ranked dead last nationally in per-pupil spending, behind states like Mississippi and Tennessee, despite a thriving economy that has fortified the tax base.
Lawmakers, for their part, talk proudly of the investments they’ve made in recent years, pointing to increases to the weighted pupil unit and the bang Utah gets for its educational buck. It’s true that Utah students generally perform in the middle of the pack nationally, and that the Legislature has devoted more money to education of late. As of this year, the state is no longer last in per-pupil spending — it’s second to last, having passed the ignominious distinction to Idaho, at least for the time being.
It’s progress but hardly cause for celebration. Parents in Park City, and elsewhere in the state, should be vocal as the 2022 legislative session draws near in January, pressuring lawmakers to do more. It’s time for the Legislature to stop pursuing half measures and start funding public education at the level it deserves — a level that would allow all school districts to pay for the kind of enriching programming available to students in Park City thanks to the education foundation.
The need for organizations like the Park City Education Foundation will never go away. There will always be gaps to fill, and more that can be offered to students, even if the state ponies up like it should for public education.
But as much as Parkites appreciate the foundation, it shouldn’t need to play such a significant role in the educational experience of our students.