Roger Donohoe says he decided to run for Utah state Representative in District 3 because he is tired of lawmakers pointing fingers and blaming others for problems we have instead of working together to solve those problems.

A resident of Hyde Park, Donohoe is challenging incumbent Jack Draxler, R-District 3, and he says, if elected, getting more funding for education will be his highest priority. So where will the funding come from?

“First of all we need to focus on severance taxes on our natural resources,” Donohoe explains, “on coal, oil, natural gas, things like that. Our tax rates on those fossil fuels are extremely low right now.”

Donhoe was a guest on KVNU’s Crosstlalk show Tuesday and said that Utah can still be competitive in developing natural resources while also helping to fund education.

“(Natural resources tax rates) are considerably lower than the other western states. If we brought those up to average we would add millions to our education funds.”

The Democrat says funding was diverted from education when the flat tax was approved several years ago, also when corporate tax breaks were enacted and especially when the law was changed allowing income tax money to go to areas besides education.

<a target=”_blank” href=”http://www.donohoe4utah.com/”>Donohoe</a> is a science teacher and part-time assistant principal at Cedar Ridge Middle School.