During the August 7th board meeting, the Uintah School Board voted to have a resolution added to Uintah County’s November 5th ballot. A Uintah School District press release explains that if the resolution is approved by the voters, the School Board plans to implement a “levy swap,” lowering its capital levy by more than what the voted levy generates for the school district for at least the next three years. “With this proposed levy swap, Uintah County residents would see an overall decrease of $1 million dollars in taxes generated for the district,” Uintah School Board President Kurt Case explains. “Taxpayers would see the benefit on their tax notices beginning next summer. Out of 42 school districts in Utah, only three do not have a voted levy for Fiscal Year 2019 – Daggett, Morgan and Uintah,” Case adds. According to the press release, the proposed voted levy aims to improve three things: student safety, the cost of school fees, and salaries for teachers and other employees. They would aim to improve student safety by putting school counselors in every elementary school, offering additional help from mental health professionals, and increasing school resource officers across the district. School fees would be reduced or eliminated, including course fees and extracurricular fees. Increasing teacher salaries is meant to make Uintah School District competitive with other districts in the state which is considered important as Utah faces a teacher shortage. Starting salaries would be raised to nearly $50,000 dollars. Board President Kurt Case also provided comment on the hope to raise salaries. “If we intend to remain competitive with other school districts in attracting and retaining top educators and employees, we need to increase salaries,” says Case. The items the District hopes to address with the proposed levy cannot be funded through the District’s Capital Fund. The proposed levy will be on the November 5th ballot.
