The 2005 LegislativeSession isover and for students,there’s good newsand bad news.The good news isthat the state got a littlesurprise surplus fromthe $675 million in newrevenues. $46 millionof the surplus is availablethis fi scal year andanother $73.7 million willbe available next fi scal year.I was personally hoping for increasedfunding for education. Of course, partof those funds did go to higher educationand the U.Since Utah is known for spending theleast amount of moneyper pupil in the UnitedStates, using more of thenew funds for educationmade sense to me. I havelearned, however, thatcommon sense and theUtah Legislature do notalways go together.The wise people onthe hill have decided toearmark $265 million fornew roads and buildings.Furthermore, surplus monies not spenton roads and buildings will go to aRainy Day Fund.What must education do to get noticed?I constantly hear slogans aboutfamily values. I just saw a news reportabout one city wanting to ban the saleof alcohol. The reason given is that it’sa moral issue.So it seems “family values” in Utahmeans new roads, construction andlaws about what people can do on theirown time, like buying beer.The state is concerned with theLegacy Highway plan. Why haven’t Iheard of a Legacy Education plan? Itmakes me wonder why roads seem tobe more important than education.My personal “family values” saythere’s no better spending than [email protected]