Month: January 2025

Utah lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to the anticipated $60 million cut to Utah’s higher education instruction budget — with one senator casting the lone dissenting vote.

Sen. Kathleen Riebe, D-Cottonwood Heights, has been vocal in her opposition to HB1, the higher education base budget bill this year, standing against it in the Senate’s 21-1 vote that took place under suspended rules.

The measure passed in the House earlier this week 73-0. It now moves forward to the governor to be signed.

Base budget bills are typically a simple approval of the previous fiscal year’s budget for an area of the state operations, such as higher education, and can be added to with new appropriations for programs or proposals. But this year, legislative leaders pushed for $60 million to be shifted away from Utah’s eight public colleges and universities.

In the budget, they moved that money — a 10% cut to the funds for classroom instruction — to a separate line item called “strategic reinvestment.”

Schools will have to petition the Utah Board of Higher Education for their share of the money back only after showing that it will be reallocated for high-demand and high-wage majors. The state defined those programs in a recent audit that also instructed university presidents to cut “inefficient” programs with low enrollment and little impact on the state’s workforce.

“I am concerned about that reallocation,” Riebe told The Salt Lake Tribune after the vote.

The budget changes have sparked fears among higher education faculty that the state’s liberal arts programs will be the first on the chopping block, because they won’t be able to measure up with metrics focused on salaries.

A complementing bill, HB265, tasks the governing Utah Board of Higher Education with coming up with the specific criteria for how to make the cuts and reallocations; that’s slated for a first committee hearing Friday.

Geoff Landward, Utah’s commissioner over higher education, said he wants to ensure the decisions take into account several measurements, including salaries but also community impact. He doesn’t want to see the humanities or social sciences diminished or targeted, he has said, and those will always remain in the required general education classes students take.

Still, Riebe, who works in K-12 education, echoed the faculty concerns last week during an initial debate about the higher education budget. The state, she said, needs teachers and social workers that aren’t always highly paid.

“It shouldn’t all be about the dollars and the cents,” the senator said. “There are a lot of jobs out there that are important to our community but don’t pay a lot.”

She also said she was “disheartened” that the talk had focused on wages instead of passion.

Riebe was joined in speaking out against the cuts by Republican Sen. John Johnson and Evan Vickers, but both supported the final budget measure Thursday. The three senators spoke about how the liberal arts create better citizens who can think critically, collaborate and adapt — and therefore are better workers, too.

“Johnson, Vickers and I all were concerned about creating a better workforce with critical thinkers,” Riebe added Thursday.

Sen. Ann Millner, R-Ogden, is the Senate sponsor of HB1 and the previous president of Weber State University. She has said that the reallocation will help reduce redundancies with programs offered at multiple institutions that don’t attract a lot of students and end up not using state funding as well as she would like to see.

She also pushed back Thursday about the measure being labeled a cut when talking about the bill before the vote.

“It’s still in this budget,” Millner said. “It’s just moved to the Board of Higher Education.”

Overall, the higher education base budget also includes a $2.93 billion allocation from the general fund in income taxes for operating and capital expenses. And there’s $71.5 million from the general fund for performance funding for schools, based on how many students they enroll and graduate.

The total operating budget, for all of higher education in the state, including money collected through tuition and other revenue streams, is $12.84 billion, according to HB1.

Millner said she anticipates adjustments, through separate bills, as the session moves forward.

Anthony Edwards was excellent in a hard-fought win Wednesday against Phoenix. The 23-year-old was all over the floor on both ends, delivering a masterful performance in a high-intensity, high-stakes bout.

So you could pretty much chalk the guard up for a no-show on Thursday in Utah against the lowly Jazz. Or, at least you could in the past. Because Edwards has long been a player who gets up for the big ones, and effectively sits out the small ones, particularly when one game is played the day after another.

That was not the case Thursday.

On the day he was named an All-Star for the third consecutive season, Edwards performed as such in Minnesota’s 138-113 rout of the Jazz (10-36) — the Wolves’ fifth-straight victory.

One evening after posting a stacked stat line against Phoenix, the star guard tallied 36 points, 11 assists, six rebounds and three blocks as Minnesota won its second game in as many nights.

He’s the first player in Wolves’ history to record a game with 35-plus points, 10-plus assists and three blocked shots.

“I thought he was outstanding,” Wolves coach Chris Finch told reporters. “His approach, when he came out after his first shift … I told him, ‘That’s the way to set the tone of what we want out there.’ Both ends of the right floor … making the right play … didn’t force anything, got all his teammates involved, played defense.”

After the Wolves fell to Dallas in the Western Conference finals in the spring — a series in which Edwards appeared to be worn by its conclusion — the guard noted fatigue as a factor, and spoke to a knowledge of the conditioning he must possess to be able to perform at a high level that deep into the postseason.

While that entails offseason work, which Edwards mentioned in the moment, there’s also something to conditioning yourself with the rigorous regular season slate. What better way to prep yourself for the persistent playoff battles than by putting your body through the ringer in Phoenix one night, and Utah the next.

That’s not a physical test Edwards has passed in the past, but he aced it this week. He was the most physically dominant player in both outings, showing no sign of wear Thursday in Utah. His effort and decision-making paved the way for all players around him to succeed.

On Thursday, that included a number of reserves making the most of their opportunities. Julius Randle left the game in the first half with a groin injury and did not return. Mike Conley was out with a sprained thumb. Donte DiVicenzo is still out with his foot injury.

So Minnesota (26-21) is finally having to dip deeper into its bench, and those guys continue to deliver. Rob Dillingham finished with 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting to go with eight assists. Luka Garza — who figures to enter the rotation if Randle misses extended time — had 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting. Jaylen Clark was again a defensive force. The Wolves won Clark’s 17 minutes by 34 points.

“Our bench was huge,” Finch told reporters. “Doing everything out there for us.”

The Wolves won Edwards’ 35 minutes by 25 points.

Finch has touted the need for consistency, particularly in this favorable stretch as Minnesota looks to finally establish the foundation of habits needed to create an identity it could lean on for a potential postseason run. All of that centers on its star player.

And, if Thursday was any indication, Edwards may be ready to step and deliver.

Utah’s fourth and eighth graders are outpacing most of the country in math and reading, according to new national data released Wednesday.

However, Utah’s scores have remained relatively unchanged since 2022, when the National Assessment of Educational Progress — also known as the Nation’s Report Card — was last administered.

Every two years, the national assessment is provided to a sample of students in fourth and eighth grade, allowing for comparisons across states. It is separate from Utah’s standardized exams.

The latest results also indicate that while Utah students have made some progress, proficiency rates in both grades and subjects have yet to return to pre-pandemic levels.

State auditors already flagged that lack of progress as “problematic” after a December report from the Legislative Auditor General found Utah students across the board are not improving.

“In other words, students who are proficient will likely remain proficient the following year, and students who are not proficient will likely remain not proficient,” the audit said.

Utah sees declines in reading comprehension

Utah has made slight gains in math proficiency for both fourth and eighth grades since 2022, the national assessment results indicate.

Fourth graders saw the most improvement, with math proficiency rising from 32% in 2022 to 35% in 2024. Eighth-grade math proficiency separately increased by 1%, from 26% in 2022 to 27% last year.

However, eighth-grade reading proficiency slid backward, dropping from 32% to 29%. Fourth graders also saw a slight dip, with proficiency falling from 27% to 26%.

That mirrors a national trend in declining reading comprehension.

“While Utah continues to perform well overall, with only three states or jurisdictions outperforming Utah, the decline in eighth-grade reading highlights the challenges schools face in reversing downward trends in literacy proficiency,” Utah State Board of Education officials said in a news release Wednesday.

USBE said it is working to identify the causes behind the reading score declines and is “expanding resources for reading programs and fostering innovative approaches to literacy education.”

Performance gaps in Utah remain wide

Achievement gaps between Utah’s underperforming student groups and their peers have remained relatively unchanged since 2022, according to NAEP results.

Across both grades and subjects, Hispanic students had average scores between 20-30 points lower than their white peers, though not significantly different from two years ago.

The gap between economically disadvantaged students and non-economically disadvantaged students also remains wide, with these students scoring on average between 22-29 points lower than their peers.

The NAEP did not provide data on Utah’s Black students, noting that “reporting standards were not met.“

Reading comprehension drop most ‘notable challenge’ nationally

Overall, The Nation’s Report Card brings good news for math but less encouraging news for reading across the U.S.

Nationally, fourth-grade math scores improved between 2022 and 2024, a two-point gain that follows a five-point decline from 2019 to 2022, according to a news release. Eighth-grade scores in math remained stagnant.

Officials from The National Center for Education Statistics said the most “notable challenge” in the 2024 data is reading comprehension.

Those scores dropped in both fourth and eighth grades since 2022, continuing declines first reported before the pandemic.

In 2024, the percentage of eighth-graders reading below NAEP Basic, or below proficiency, was the largest in the assessment’s history, according to a news release, and the percentage of fourth-graders scoring not proficient was the largest in two decades. NAEP tests were first administered in 1969.

“NAEP has reported declines in reading achievement consistently since 2019, and the continued declines since the pandemic suggest we’re facing complex challenges that cannot be fully explained by the impact of COVID-19,” said NCES Associate Commissioner Daniel McGrath in a Wednesday news release.

PARK CITY, Utah — With the 2025 Sundance Film Festival underway, Utah leaders, locals and longtime attendees are making a final push — that could include paying millions of dollars — to keep the world-renowned film festival as its directors consider uprooting.

Thousands of festivalgoers affixed bright yellow stickers to their winter coats that read “Keep Sundance in Utah” in a last-ditch effort to convince festival leadership and state officials to keep it in Park City, its home of 41 years.

Gov. Spencer Cox said previously that Utah would not throw as much money at the festival as other states hoping to lure it away. Now his office is urging the Legislature to carve out $3 million for Sundance in the state budget, weeks before the independent film festival is expected to pick a home for the next decade.

It could retain a small presence in picturesque Park City and center itself in nearby Salt Lake City, or move to another finalist — Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado — beginning in 2027.

“Sundance is Utah, and Utah is Sundance. You can’t really separate those two,” Cox said. “This is your home, and we desperately hope it will be your home forever.”

Festival Director Eugene Hernandez told reporters last week that they had not made a final decision. An announcement is expected this year by early spring.

Colorado is trying to further sweeten its offer. The state is considering legislation giving up to $34 million in tax incentives to film festivals like Sundance through 2036 — on top of the $1.5 million in funds already approved to lure the Utah festival to its neighboring state.

Cincinnati approved a resolution allocating $2.5 million to Sundance if festival leaders relocate to southwest Ohio. Yet money may not be the ultimate draw.

Sundance leaders say the festival has outgrown the ski town it helped put on the map decades ago, and they worry it has developed an air of exclusivity that takes the focus away from the films. An ideal home would make Sundance more centralized, affordable and accessible to all who appreciate independent film.

Some festivalgoers and industry leaders worry Sundance would lose its identity outside its idyllic mountain hometown.

Roger and Carin Ehrenberg, major donors to the festival, said they would stop attending regularly if the festival was outside Utah. Sundance is a “magical experience” for the New York City philanthropists, they said, due in large part to the atmosphere in Park City.

“If it goes to Cincinnati, maybe once in a blue moon we would go, but it wouldn’t be a regular thing,” Carin Ehrenberg said. “For us, it’ll lose its appeal.”

The couple said they would likely continue to donate even if they did not attend.

Nineteen years of fond memories at Sundance helped inspire Dr. Rhonda Taubin to relocate her family from Atlanta to Heber City — Park City’s neighboring town. She has no ties to the film industry but has become a fervent advocate for keeping the festival in her new home state.

This year, she and her friends distributed thousands of “Keep Sundance in Utah” stickers — and another that read “NOhio for Sundance” — to show the festival how much it means to the local community.

“I really am not a movie buff, but my other girlfriends are, and being able to share all that we’ve been through as women, as mothers, as wives, as daughters, I don’t want it to end,” Taubin said. “We watch provocative movies that make us talk and think about things that maybe we’ve never thought about before. Utah would be at a huge loss without those conversations.”

If Sundance stays in Utah, the festival’s former director John Cooper said major adjustments are needed to improve transportation between Salt Lake City and Park City and make lodging for filmmakers more affordable.

Cooper, who led the festival from 2009 to 2020, said he would be sad to see Sundance shift away from actor and filmmaker Robert Redford’s original vision. Its very name comes from Redford’s character in the 1969 film “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.”

“I felt like my role was to be a keeper of the flame for Robert Redford and his legacy,” Cooper told The Associated Press. “The mountains of Utah, this was his vision. It’s weird to say ‘Sundance in Ohio.’ But I think it could go anywhere. What it does for a community is so strong.”

On the red carpet this week, many were split on whether Sundance should stay or go.

Actor Elijah Wood urged the festival to remain in Park City, saying the location is part of its DNA.

Others were open to it relocating. Actor Tessa Thompson, who serves on the Sundance Institute’s board of trustees, said the festival could maintain its identity in a new city.

“I think that Sundance has more to do with the spirit and community, and I think that’s evergreen,” Thompson said. “Regardless of where Sundance is, Sundance will always be.”

It was Crosby’s 95th career game-winning goal, moving him past Steve Yzerman for the 13th most in NHL history. Crosby also had an assist for his 207th multipoint game, tying him with Joe Sakic for the eighth most in NHL history.

Marcus Pettersson and Erik Karlsson scored for the Penguins (21-24-8), who snapped a three-game losing streak. Alex Nedeljkovic made 27 saves.

Mikhail Sergachev and Michael Carcone scored for Utah (21-21-8), which has lost three straight games. Connor Ingram made 25 saves.

Sergachev opened the scoring with a power play goal at 14:51 of the first period, firing a snap shot past Nedeljkovic to give Utah a 1-0 lead.

Pettersson scored at 6:40 of the second period to tie the game 1-1 as he fired a slap shot off a pass from Crosby that went past the glove side of Ingram for the goal.

Carcone gave Utah a 2-1 lead at 8:36, as he followed up his breakaway attempt and hit the puck into the net past Nedeljkovic.

Karlsson tied the game at 2-2 at 6:17 of the third period, as he beat Ingram on the glove side above the shoulder for the goal.