A bill has failed that could have taken nearly $1 million from the Park City School District next year and redistributed the money to schools throughout the state.

The House Education Committee on Friday voted against House Bill 129, which was sponsored by Rep. Merlynn Newbold, R-South Jordan.

The legislation was an attempt to equalize school funding by redistributing some property tax revenue, Newbold said.

“Education is a state program, it’s not a local program,” Newbold said.

She hoped to direct more money toward districts that are struggling financially by freezing a statewide property tax levy that currently decreases as property values rise. The state would redistribute the new property tax revenue among school districts in Utah with property values that are below the state average.

“In two years it will generate an additional $9 million,” Newbold said.

Money for public education in Utah comes from property and income taxes. Funding from state income tax gets equalized among districts statewide based on the number of students.

But revenue generated from property tax should be used to pay for schools in the area where it was raised, Park City resident Julie Eihausen said.

“House Bill 129 is an unfair, targeted bill,” Eihausen said. “It removes money that was raised by local levies, voted on by local people for local services and it places it in the hands of others,” Eihausen said.

Residents in Park City already pay more in property taxes to Utah schools per capita than taxpayers in any other county in the state, according to Park City School District officials. State income tax generated in Summit County helps fund 18 other school districts throughout Utah.

Eihausen said she feared HB 129 would take more money away from the Park City area.

“Removing $1 million next year, and having it rise every year thereafter from our budget, is crippling,” Eihausen said. “Basic programs will have to be cut or our taxes will have to be raised.”

She suggested state lawmakers do away with the “per child tax credit” in Utah.

“That way people who have children will pay just as much for their education as people who don’t,” Eihausen said.

Officials in Park City and Summit County, made defeating HB 129 their top priority this legislative session.

“In the Park City area, we have in the past taxed ourselves at a higher rate to ensure that there is a good school system in the Park City area,” Park City Board of Realtors President Mark Seltenrich told members of the House Education Committee. “Our local school system is very important to our industry in Park City and the local area, and we would just like to keep the local tax dollars spent locally.”

HB 129 would have taken money from 21 Utah school districts, including Park City, South Summit and North Summit, and redistributed it among 20 other districts and all charter schools in the state.

“I agree with the goal of improving those school districts that don’t have enough resources to do a good job, but I don’t think you should do that by taking resources from other districts,” Summit County Councilman John Hanrahan said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

HB 129 was not expected to generate any additional money for schools because the measure required districts that received more funding to lower taxes to offset the increases.

“There is no increase in funds,” said state Rep. Kraig Powell, R-Heber.

Powell voted against HB 129.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers this year are debating several other bills dealing with school equalization.