Some legislators ready to restore education funding
SALT LAKE CITY – Today, Utah Senate President Wayne Niederhauser initiated the veto override process for Utah State Senators. President Niederhauser issued the following statement in response to the governor’s veto of three bills and seven budget line items:
“The checks and balances of our constitutional system require the consideration of both the legislature and the governor before a bill becomes law. When the governor chooses to veto a bill, the legislature is directed by the Utah Constitution to review his actions.
“The senate will now proceed with the veto override process. Today, we will begin polling Utah’s 29 state senators, asking them to cast a vote for or against an override session. The Speaker of the House will poll the Representatives. If two-thirds of each chamber vote in the affirmative, we will convene a veto override session. If the legislature chooses not to override, we will move forward with our normal interim work.
“We plan to announce the results of our veto override poll on or before Thursday, April 14th at 5:00 p.m.”
The governor’s vetoes this year have caused some concern. Senator Stuart Adams said the following regarding Governor Herbert’s veto of Senate Bill 2, Item 6 (found on lines 205-220 of the bill):
“These vetoed initiatives are proven and important. UPSTART, for example, has been expanded several times, with this governor’s approval, to meet skyrocketing demand. Participating students test two to three times higher in reading and the program has a 99.8 percent parent satisfaction rate. If we don’t find a way to reinstate funding, the real losers will be Utah students.”
Senator Howard Stephenson added:
“The governor’s veto of education funding was surprising. His veto significantly impacts funding for important educational programs in our state which the Education Committees had carefully studied before the legislature made changes. His reasoning for the veto of the K-3 Early Intervention Reading Program funding item is focused on a significant misquote from a third-party evaluation of the program, which is now outdated because more appropriate software is being used in the 2nd and 3rd grades.
“With the passage of comprehensive personalized learning education (HB 277), which the Governor signed and which moves education three steps forward in digital learning, the Governor has sent education two steps backward by vetoing funding of the software needed for personalized learning. We wish that the Governor had spoken with us prior to making his official action on these funding items so that we could have provided him with much needed context and more accurate data.”
If the Utah Legislature elects to hold an override session, it will begin on or before Monday, May 9th, as per Article VII, Section 8 of the Utah Constitution.
