Upcoming Legislative Town Hall will discuss new funding opportunities for education

Image courtesy of Kids Count.

LOGAN – In the most recent legislative session, the Utah legislature approved millions of dollars of funding that school districts could use based on their individual needs. Referred to as Teacher and Student Success Account (TSSA) funds, schools within districts can have more freedom of how to use those funds to satisfy their specific needs. Since the funds are new, and perhaps misunderstood about how to access and utilize, TSSA will be the topic of an upcoming Legislative Town Hall at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 20th at the Historic Cache County Courthouse.

Rep. Dan Johnson, R-District 4, is hosting the town hall and has invited Sen. Ann Millner. R-District 18, to be in attendance, as well as other local school administrators.

“She was actually the former president of Weber State University,” Johnson explains. “She’s the person who carried the legislation. She will open the meeting then we’ll have (Logan School District) Superintendent Frank Schofield and (Cache County School District) Superintendent Steve Norton there as well, with principals and teachers and parents from each of those districts talking about how they’ve implemented these funds. It’s going to be a really broad-based situation.”

Rep. Johnson says the bill’s origin will be explained, as well as how it is being implemented at individual schools. He adds that parents ought to familiarize themselves with how the TSSA funds work, because they can have a say in how they are used.

“I think moms and dads ought to take a lot of interest in this because it’s a way funding happens. It goes right to school sites and they can be actively engaged in how that money gets spent.”

Rep. Johnson says the funds can be used in a variety of ways, like teacher salaries, classroom aides, literacy for mathematics and language arts, and more. The funds have to be tied directly to a school improvement plan and efforts already put in place to impact student learning. The money provided by the fund is ongoing, and is not one-time money.

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