NESS Funding

The Utah Legislature provides additional state funding to Necessary Existing Small Schools (NESS). All the Kane County School District’s schools, except Kanab Elementary are NESS schools. Our district received approximately $3.4 million from the state to provide essential support services such as teachers, staff and programs to students in NESS schools.  As a district, we expend 100% of these resources on NESS schools.  I had the privilege of working with Representative Peterson, business administrators and superintendents across the state on proposed legislation to address inequities in funding formula distributions. As a result of the work we were able to do over the summer with this committee, Representative Peterson drafted HB396 and sponsored by Senator Hinkins in the Senate.  We are happy to report that HB396 passed the House and the Senate and is awaiting Governor Cox’s signature. The new legislation will provide an additional $16,322,300 statewide for NESS schools. We would like to sincerely thank Representative Peterson and Senator Hinkins for their support of rural schools in our district and for providing additional funding to help our students.