Utah ranks number two in the nation in terms of the percentage of its population that is enrolled in public schools. Most of the decisions affecting Utah’s education system are made at the state and local levels, because most of the funding comes from local sources, with just 9 percent of schools' funding coming from the Federal government.
Utah offers a wide range of K–12 schooling options, including traditional public schools, innovative charter schools, a range of special needs programs, advance placement programs, access to vocational/technical training for high school level students through local campus locations of the Utah College of Applied Technology, and access to online/virtual school programs. Additionally, there are over 130 private schools within the state and numerous home schooling options.
In the 2006-07 school year, the average class size for Utah's public schools was 22.2, based on the number of full-time teachers per student and not including classroom aides or teacher coordinators. Since 1993, Utah has spent over $700 million on reducing class sizes through the Class-Size Reduction fund. (Get more facts at www.utaheducationfacts.com)
In the 2006-07 school year, more than half of all property taxes went directly to local school districts (100 percent of both individual and corporate state income taxes must be spent on K-12 and higher education as mandated by the Utah constitution.) In addition, 90 percent of the funding for Utah’s K-12 public schools came from state and local sources.
