SALT LAKE CITY-COVID-19 is proving terribly debilitating to the Utah State School Board as officials recommend a tremendous budget cut.
Thursday, the board debated recommendations to Utah lawmakers for cuts of the $3.8 billion base budget for public education in the face of economic instability brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Sydnee Dickson, when addressing the Utah State Board of Education, said a 5 percent budget cut would require stitches and a 10 percent cut would feel like cutting into the bone.
The board has agreed to three scenarios of reductions to the base budget. These represent 2 percent (which Dickson likened to a flesh wound), 5 percent and 10 percent.
These amount to $76 million, $225.7 million and $381.6 million cuts, respectively.
Overall, state lawmakers are expected to consider slashing as much as $2 billion from the $20 billion state budget as of July 1 because of the economic struggles caused by COVID-19.
