Students work in a French class at Wasatch Junior High School in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, March 12, 2024. (Photo by Spenser Heaps for Utah News Dispatch)
A controversial constitutional amendment challenged by educators won’t be resolved this November after a court ruling following the playbook of another embattled ballot measure left the question void.
Before the Wednesday decision, Amendment A aimed to update the Utah Constitution to allow income tax revenue to fund state needs outside of what it has traditionally been reserved for: public and higher education needs and some services for children or people with disabilities.
But now, all votes cast on the initiative will be void, after 3rd District Court Judge Laura Scott ruled that Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, Speaker of the House Mike Schultz, Senate President Stuart Adams and other state officials hadn’t met a constitutional requirement that sufficient public notice be given in newspapers statewide in order for the proposed amendment to be included on the ballot, a fact they acknowledged.
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“Legislative Defendants acknowledge that there is no basis to argue that the newspaper publication requirement of Article XXIII of the Utah Constitution was met with respect to Amendment A,” wrote Scott, who also heard the case against Amendment D, which met a similar fate in September. Scott’s ruling was then upheld by the Utah Supreme Court.
Scott cited the Utah Supreme Court decision that, at least for this year, killed Amendment D, a proposed constitutional change that would have affirmed the Legislature’s authority to amend or repeal citizen ballot initiatives. When invalidating Amendment D, the state’s high court considered a requirement to publish the text of constitutional amendments in “at least one newspaper in every county of the state, where a newspaper is published, for two months immediately preceding the next general election.”
Utah teacher union asks judge to void Amendment A, launches campaign to vote ‘no’
Both Amendment A and D will still be printed on Utah ballots, set to be mailed out next week. However, any votes toward the proposals won’t be valid.
The order is permanent considering the timing of the upcoming election.
“In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling on Amendment D, and given the notice for all the amendments were the same, the Legislature chose to file a joint brief allowing the district court to resolve the case. This action aimed to prevent unnecessary expenditure of tax dollars,” Adams and Schultz said in a joint statement.
The decision came as part of a lawsuit filed the Utah Education Association, the state’s largest teacher union, along with two parents, a public school teacher and a Utah State Board of Education member over the state’s “school choice” voucher program, which the association argues would redirect funding from already underfunded public schools.
Most recently, the group filed a motion asking a judge to void Amendment A based on the same arguments that proved the undoing of Amendment D.
The motion argued that the ballot language also obscured the intent and effect of the amendment proposal. That, along with the failure to fulfill the newspaper publication requirement, makes it “even more difficult for voters to understand the true effect of the amendment,” according to the motion.
“The Legislature has attempted to place a proposed amendment on the ballot in a way that violates the Constitution. The fast-approaching election creates an exigent circumstance warranting expedited review of Plaintiffs’ Motions,” the document requesting an expedited review reads.
However, Adams and Shultz defended the amendment on Wednesday, stating that it would have “guaranteed funding for public education and removed the state sales tax on food.”
In 2023, the Legislature passed HB54, a bill that would repeal the state’s portion of sales tax on food so long as Utahns agreed to remove the constitutional earmark on income tax revenue, amounting to a roughly $200 million tax cut that’s long been sought by advocates for low-income Utahns. With the question on education funding null on the ballot, the food tax stays.
Citing ongoing litigation, the Utah Education Association did not comment on the judge’s ruling on Amendment A.
Utahns for Student Success, a coalition of organizations running a campaign against Amendment A, described the decision as a significant victory for voters and public education.
“Amendment A was a power grab by state politicians aimed at diverting public money from public schools to unaccountable religious private school vouchers,” the coalition said in a statement. “It was written to be deliberately misleading, hiding its true impact on public schools.”
Utah Senate and House minority leaders, Sen. Luz Escamilla and Rep. Angela Romero, commended the Legislature for acknowledging that both Amendments D and A failed to meet the publication requirement.
“We applaud Utahns for their commitment to holding their government accountable. The active engagement of our communities ensures the integrity of the democratic process,” Escamilla and Romero said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Utah Democratic Party also celebrated the decision and called the ruling a victory for teachers, students and their families, but noting that it leaves the state’s tax on food in place.
“For years, the Republican Supermajority has refused to remove the state sales tax on groceries, keeping food costs artificially high for Utah families,” Utah Democratic Party Chair Diane Lewis and Salt Lake County Democratic Party chair Jade Velazquez wrote in a statement. “This year, they finally promised to remove the state sales tax on food — but only if Utahns voted to gut public education funding, effectively holding our children’s future hostage.”
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