May 23
Illegal Utah Children K-12…Cost $55 Million…or More
2007 at 9:02 pm | posted by Rep. Craig Frank 8 comments
The Legislative Auditor General’s office estimates the cost to taxpaying citizens (Personal Income Tax paying citizens) of Utah between $54.9 million and $85.4 million to educate all undocumented children in grades K-12 during 2006. Click HERE to see full report.
If these children were removed from Utah public school classrooms tomorrow, there would be an additional $55,000,000 (or more) available for further classroom size reduction and money for further teachers salary increases. The report also estimates that between 10,714 and 16,667 illegal students fill Utah’s K-12 classrooms.
Click HERE for print media article.
8 Responses to “Illegal Utah Children K-12…Cost $55 Million…or More”
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May 24th, 2007 at 8:20 am
I heard one legislator on the radio yesterday (didn’t catch his name) say that this study provides only a partial picture because it does not reveal how much the parents of these students directly and indirectly put into state coffers. He said that we need data like that before we know for sure what impact these people are having on the system.
May 24th, 2007 at 11:46 am
I would agree that there are several pieces of this puzzle missing.
I reviewed, again, the contents of the audit this morning. The audit did not address the specific funding mechanisms of our public education system and to what degree illegal “families” are “contributing” to the system.
It is important to remember, sales tax on purchases by the illegal population of our state go to the General Fund, not the Education Fund (primarily).
However, something to remember is the primary source of the WPU (Weighted Pupil Unit) is state personal income tax. (100% of personal; income tax is deposited into the state’s Education Fund) And, illegal students who are working generally do not pay these taxes. Either they’re not declaring these taxes (employers are not paying them) or they’re declaring them, and not making enough to actual meet the minimum taxable income and, if they work the system enough, recieve a refund. So, “employable,” illegal high school students aren’t contributing to the state’s base of personal income tax, the primary source of the state’s Education Fund.
Now we’re not talking about the entire illegal population, the audit only addresses the COST of illegal students to our K-12 public education system. This audit or discussion does not include adult illegals who are working and paying OR not paying personal income or property taxes–in my opinion, a completely different arguement.
Many of those who are here illegally and working do not have children in the public education system. This is evident by the 1/6 or 1/7 ratio mentioned in the audit as the fraction of illegal students to the total estimated number of illegals in Utah–A RELATIVELY SMALL PORTION OF OUR TOTAL ILLEGAL POPULATION. The illegal parents of illegal students are bearing a VERY SMALL portion of the overall burden on the Public Ed system. In fact, it may be so small that it would be statistically insignificant.
Trying to tie these to populations together, in and of themselves, is problematic and not part of this discussion.
This report merely concludes that the load (cost) on the state’s public education system is between $54.9 million and $85.4 million.
May 24th, 2007 at 12:01 pm
Interesting article, and interesting audit report.
However, though $55k is undoubtably a lot of money that could do a lot of good for our “legal” children, I can’t help but feel that it isn’t these children’s fault that they are here illegally, and that it is only right that someone educate them, even if it is in part on my dollar.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:18 pm
I believe you meant $55 million. And, you\’re right, \”innocent\” children of parents who have come here illegally should be considered differently than those who should have avoided coming here unlawfully.
At least that\’s how I wish the law would deal with me if I broke the law without malice.
May 24th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
We cannot, however, discount the Rule of Law and societally accept the abdication of parental responsibility.
May 24th, 2007 at 7:00 pm
I really dislike hearing the “Rule of Law” used to explain anything in regards to those in the US illegally. Sometimes the “Rule of Law” is broken, and instead of dedicating ourselves to a broken rule, we ought to fix it.
This audit seems pointless to me. Are we going to stop educating these children because it costs too much? Maybe a better audit would have been to find out how much it would cost us if we don’t educate these children.
If we could create a better immigration policy, the issue would be moot anyway.
June 8th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
The Immigration Debate
June 9th, 2007 at 12:08 am
Or how about this one from Glen Beck
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAaBgMmSrJo&mode=related&search=