UTF-8 characters not converting in category dropdown

Hi guys, for some reason UTF-8 characters are not converting in my category dropdown. I’m using more or less the default wp_dropdown_categories and args with a submit button. The only thing I’ve done differently is added a class to customize the drop down selects, which seems to be the problem. I’ve been beating my head for a bit now tryin to debug this one but so far no luck. See below for my code. Any and all help and or ideas are appreciated. Thanks in advance!

<form id="category-select" class="category-select" action="<?php echo esc_url( home_url( '/' ) ); ?>" method="get">
					<li>
						<?php
						$args = array(
							'show_option_none' => __( 'Category' ),
							'show_count'       => 0,
							'orderby'          => 'name',
							'echo'             => 0,
							'class'            => 'search-select',
						);
						?>
						<?php $select  = wp_dropdown_categories( $args ); ?>
						<?php echo $select; ?>
					</li>
					<li><input type="submit" value="GO!" /></li>
				</form>