The Associated Press reports Utah’s Amendment C has passed. It will add a provision to the Utah Constitution specifying each county will have an elected sheriff.
Utah law already requires sheriffs to be elected, but when lawmakers unanimously passed HJR10 in 2023, their aim was to enshrine that in the Utah Constitution to ensure sheriffs remain an elected office throughout Utah well into its future.
And Amendment B is passed as well, according to the AP. More than 70% of Utah voters approved of the measure.
Amendment B deals with education funding. It asked voters whether the Utah Constitution should be amended to “increase the limit on the annual distributions from the State School Fund to public schools from 4% to 5% of the fund.”
KUER reports the State School Fund holds money generated from leasing and developing trust lands. The trust lands were given to Utah by the federal government when it became a state. Trust lands funding benefits many institutions, but most of it goes to the Permanent State School Fund to support current and future Utah students.
In short, unlike other public education funds, this money does not come from taxpayers.
Right now, the state constitution allows only up to 4% of the funds to be distributed each year. Amendment B would raise the cap to 5%.
According to KUER, proponents of Amendment B say the fund has seen more growth than expected and current students aren’t getting their fair share of the benefits. To create balance, the Utah Land Trust Protection and Advocacy Office recommends the 1% increase.
If a higher cap was already in effect, schools would have received $120 million this school year instead of $106 million.
Local school districts support the increase.
North Summit School District Superintendent Jerre Holmes said the district would receive an extra $4,000 each year.
“It has been a great thing for us and every district in this state," he said. "So adding $4,000 may not sound great right now, but exponentially, as each year goes by, it will continue to grow.”
South Summit’s Superintendent Greg Maughan said he didn’t want to take a formal position on the amendment but noted the extra money would help schools.
“Anything is a positive, you know, especially when it's able to be funded, you know, kind of funnel funneled, if you will, directly to schools, and ultimately hitting the classroom level, hitting the student level,” he said.
Each school has a committee that decides how to allocate the money. South Summit’s has administrators and parents. Maughan’s not on it, so he doesn’t know exactly what they’ll do if they get this extra cash.
Critics of this amendment argue increasing the amount of money schools can pull from the fund may jeopardize the fund’s long term health — if the markets take a nosedive.
Amendments A and D are void.
