This bill passed the Senate with a unanimous vote and the House with a vote of 49-14.
At a time when many are concerned about the level of funding for K-12 education, legislators are still running bills that take more pieces of the pie away from Utah’s young students. Last year $815 million flowed out of the education fund into bloated college and university budgets. Senate Bill 104, run by Senator Ann Millner, takes another $2.5 million and appropriates it for a Higher Education program.
The core issue is not whether or not the loan program called for by SB 104 is justified or whether it has accountability measures to hold taxpayers harmless and ensure fairness in who can obtain the money. The issue at hand is that Higher Education already has plenty of money in the pot to run a program like this on their own.
Perhaps they need direction from the Legislature and it might be possible that they need to find private sector partners to help make the program a success. But one thing is clear: there is no need to siphon off yet another $2.5 million to a system that is already getting more than its fair share.
