AI-generated summary, not yet reviewed by Better Utah staff. Please consult the bill text.

The state's annual public education budget bill would set the base funding formula for Utah's K-12 schools for the 2026–2027 school year, appropriating nearly $8.8 billion in ongoing funds plus smaller supplemental adjustments to the current 2025–2026 budget, and would set the weighted pupil unit—the base dollar amount the state provides per student, used to calculate most school funding—at $4,870. That money would flow to school districts, charter schools, and state education agencies for purposes including special education, teacher salaries and supply funds, career and technical education, student health and counseling, school safety, early literacy programs, and school building projects. The bill would also change how schools qualify for emergency funding when they see a sudden influx of students learning English: rather than measuring eligibility based on a student's low score on an English proficiency test, the state would define these students as those who have experienced an "interrupted formal education," meaning they were not born in any state and have not attended school in any state for at least two full academic years, while keeping the existing enrollment-increase thresholds for extra funding. Finally, the bill would allow a comprehensive high school to qualify as a state-funded career and technical education center if it meets program standards, would bar the state board from dictating how such centers are staffed or organized, and would revise how one-time funds from the Public Education Economic Stabilization Account are directed, including designating at least $65 million for the CTE Catalyst Center Grant Program.