Article 13, section 5 (5) of the Utah Constitution states that tax on income (income tax) shall be used to support public education, higher education, and to support children and individuals with a disability. You can access Article 13 at the following link: https://le.utah.gov/xcode/Articlexiii/Article_xiii,_Section_5.html
In 2020, Utah Constitutional Amendment G was passed by 54%, which allows income tax to be used to support individuals with disabilities and provides approximately an additional $650 million in legislative flexibility that was supposed to help the state budget over the next ten years. However, within the three years since Amendment G was passed, the additional $650 million allocated has been used to meet General Fund expenditures and is resulting in a revenue funding shortfall in the Income Tax Fund. Amendment G in 2020 has assisted education by fully funding growth and inflation each year, $440 million ongoing to the Public Education Economic Stabilization Fund, and has funded a 5.9% increase in the WPU for 2022 and a 6.0% increase for FY 2023. It is important to note that public education does not receive all the income tax money because the Utah Constitution does not have language that requires the legislature to spend it on public education, as is evident in the recent HB 215 that provides $40 million to private schools. The Utah Legislature will ask the public in a ballot initiative in 2024 to amend the Utah Constitution by removing the Utah Constitutional educational earmark on income tax to allow greater flexibility for the legislature, especially as it relates to the General Fund. In return, if the voters approve the removal of the Utah Constitutional earmark for education, the legislature will remove the sales tax on food. The educational community is awaiting the proposed language from the Utah Legislature to amend the Utah Constitution, which will likely be finalized this week during the last week of the Utah Legislative session.