No more school fees?

While Utah often leads the U.S. in growth and rising housing prices — Ogden, Provo and Salt Lake City recently made the top 10 list of the country’s most overvalued markets — last year the Beehive State saw an increase in rent that was aligned with the national average.

“There’s still more demand than there is supply. But we aren’t standing still. We’re adding inventory,” said Paul Smith, executive director of the Utah Apartment Association.

Parents, do you hate writing that school fees check? It might go away

Context: According to a recent Utah State Board of Education report, Utah schools collected more than $53 million for curricular or co-curricular fees during the 2020-2021 school year. These fees go toward instructional activities, courses or programs provided or supported by a school and occurring during school hours, as opposed to extra-curricular fees for activities such as after-school sports.

What's new: HB211, sponsored by Rep. Adam Robertson, R-Provo, would prohibit Utah schools from charging curricular fees and portions of co-curricular fees and would appropriate $55 million in state funding to help offset fees paid annually by Utah families.

“We have an obligation as a society, a moral obligation, to educate the upcoming generation, and our priority there is for the core curricular topics," Robertson said.

Read more from Marjorie Cortez about what the bill would do.

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