School and Money

We are in such a shaky economic time right now that I worry about the effects it will have on educational funding. Almost 50% of funding for education comes from state money (the rest comes from local taxes and a small amount from the federal government). I knew funding was always a critical issue when our state legislature meets each year, but I didn't realize how much of the pie they must provide. With our current financial crisis I worry what will happen during this year's legislative sessions. Unfortunately, in years past, some of our lawmakers have spent an incredible amount of time debating moral message laws or other non-essential topics (example: Should we really have seat belt laws? What if we have too many children to fit in a car? etc.). Meanwhile, we have children without health care, single mothers without child care assistance and the lowest per-pupil expenditure in the nation. It is my hope in this coming financially-tight year, our lawmakers can concentrate on the humane and important issues. I'm worried because recently a lawmaker expressed concern that we are adding a new area code to Utah. Everyone will now need to dial all 10 digits of make a call. He wants to introduce a bill so that people won't be inconvenienced by needing to dial 10 digits. Please...