School board head bemoans divisiveness of voucher fight
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By Brock Vergakis
The Associated Press
B
OUNTIFUL -- Kim Burningham is exhausted.
At 71, the former high school debate coach and state lawmaker thought his long days battling philosophical and political opponents were over.
He was wrong.
Burningham, who has been chairman for seven of his nine years on the State Board of Education, is caught up in what he says is the toughest battle of his career, taking on a leadership role in opposing the first universal private-school voucher program in the country.
Voters will decide Tuesday whether to kill the program, which would give parents $500 to $3,000 per child to spend on tuition at a private school. Unlike other states, even affluent families in well-performing districts would qualify for vouchers under the program approved by the Legislature earlier this year.
It has become a divisive issue in a state dominated by Republicans, among which Burningham counts himself.
The issue in a nutshell:
Utah has the nation's largest classes and spends less per student than every other state. Voucher opponents say the state should spend money improving public schools rather than subsidizing private schools. Voucher proponents say the issue is about giving families a school choice that's not dictated by where they can afford to live while encouraging market-driven competition in education.
In an interview Friday with The Associated Press at Burningham's Bountiful home, Burningham said the fight over school vouchers shows that right-wing politicians are taking control of the Utah Republican Party with help from the party's use of the caucus system. He also believes more transparency is needed on political donations.
Finance deadlines
Voucher proponents have paid for a number of commercials criticizing Utahns for Public Schools, of which Burningham is a member, for accepting millions in donations from out-of-state teachers unions. The donations were made public in campaign finance reports released in mid-September.
Those reports also showed that the pro-voucher group Parents for Choice in Education had raised only about $200,000.
The second deadline for campaign finance reports was Tuesday, after many voters, including Burningham, had already cast their ballots in early voting.
"The problem seems to be that we have this deadline you must report by such-and-such a date," he said. "That's being abused so badly because they just don't give the money until the day after and then it doesn't appear."
Financial disclosure reports released Tuesday show that Parents for Choice in Education has raised about $3.8 million to pay for its campaign. Most of that money was donated by Overstock.com founder and CEO Patrick Byrne, his family and out-of-state conservative groups that advocate school choice programs.
"I think personally that's played against the pro-voucher folks. They said they had far less, yet all my bright neighbors who watch television say, 'Hey, they're spending a lot more than they reported so far.' So they're obviously gaming the system in some way," Burningham said last week.
"There's got to be something to make it more transparent, what's happening. If we know what's happening, the public will take it into account in their deliberations."
The voucher program was challenged right from the start, resulting in a dispute that had to be sorted out by the Utah Supreme Court.
Pressure cited
Burningham said the Board of Education was heavily pressured by state Attorney General Mark Shurtleff and GOP lawmakers to enact rules and launch the program while the court was deciding whether a second voucher bill would allow the program to proceed after the first was suspended pending Tuesday's vote. Shurtleff said the board was violating state law if it failed to start the program.
"A lot of pressure was brought on to us to do things. If you want to use the word bullying, I'll have to let you use that word," he said. "I think holding a rally at the state Capitol with press and placards and posters and people saying the board should do it, that's pressure. I think that you see pressure when the attorney general takes a stand and tells us we should do it, though we thought it was contrary to the law."
Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman is an unwavering supporter of vouchers, but he did not badger Burningham.
"He understands where I stand. I think I understand his position, and I've never felt any pressure," Burningham said.
Burningham believes Utah Republican Party's caucuses have concentrated the power in the hands of too few, resulting in the election of ultra-conservative lawmakers who don't always reflect the views of their constituents -- and possibly leading this year to the voucher law.
Primary, not caucus
"I believe we'd be better served by a public vote primary. I think the caucus system is being abused, that people found a way to control it," he said. "Though I have much respect for parties and their value, I think those parties should operate through an open, public system so the public is more involved."
Burningham questions whether the Legislature and Huntsman would have passed a voucher program, without the caucus system. Parents for Choice in Education has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the past several years electing pro-voucher Republicans to the Legislature. Huntsman's support for vouchers also helped him survive the caucus system.
However, public opinion polls have routinely shown most voters oppose vouchers.
"I think that our existing system tends to disenfranchise the middle because the two parties tend to be dominated by the far extremes, and I don't think that's where the bulk of my neighbors are," he said.
He's also expecting legislative payback from disgruntled Republicans who will seek to further politicize the technically nonpartisan State Board of Education with bills to choose board members by political affiliation.
It's happened before, he said, recalling his days as a lawmaker. Burningham tried unsuccessfully to end closed legislative caucus meetings, where members of a party meet in private. In Utah, Republicans hold a vetoproof majority and can meet in secret to decide how they'll vote before doing so publicly. Some colleagues told him his political career was finished because he sponsored legislation to end the practice.
But with only days to go days before Tuesday's vote, Burningham is more involved in politics than ever.
"Do I regret what I've done? No. Because I believe it very firmly. But I regret that it's caused so much animosity."
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