School vouchers unlikely
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Tuesday, January 22, 2008 | 
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]By JEFF DEMOSS
Standard-Examiner staff
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By JEFF DEMOSS
Standard-Examiner staff
jdemoss@standard.net
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By JEFF DEMOSS
Standard-Examiner staff
jdemoss@standard.net
SALT LAKE CITY -- The likelihood of a private-school voucher proposal coming before the Legislature this year is slim to none, lawmakers were told Monday. Senate leaders said other creative solutions will be needed to address the state's rapidly growing public school enrollment.
What creative solutions may surface remains to be seen, however.
The Legislature narrowly passed a bill in the 2007 session to give families up to $3,000 per child each year to pay for tuition at private schools. It would have created the nation's most widespread voucher program, but voters defeated the proposal in November.
Vouchers, the most hotly contested issue in the 2007 session, will probably not be on the table this time around, said Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem.
Voucher programs such as the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship will continue, he said, but lawmakers will have to look at other ways to improve Utah public education in general.
"We've got to be creative in how to solve that problem if we can't use private alternatives, whether it's longer school years, track systems, or other things to help us keep up with rapid growth," Valentine said.
An estimated 165,000 children will enter Utah public schools in the next 10 years, he said.
Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble, R-Provo, said last year's polarizing debate needs to be set aside if legislators expect to make any meaningful progress.
"One of the challenges in the post-voucher era is looking at meaningful reform and finding a consensus," Bramble said. "Anything proposed will be characterized by one side or the other as vindictive. We need to put that behind us and move forward."
Republican leaders in the House and Senate were ardent supporters of the voucher program.
Senate Minority Leader Mike Dmitrich, R-Price, said the state education system is facing growing pains similar to what it faced in the mid-1980s.
Despite mounting pressure for reform, he agreed that a voucher bill is unlikely to surface this year.
"The voucher battle is over in my opinion."
Utah legislators returned to work Monday on the federal Martin Luther King Jr. holiday for what civil rights leaders hope is the last time.
The state constitution requires that the Legislature convene on the third Monday in January -- the same day designated since 1986 as a holiday in honor of the slain civil rights leader.
King's birthday is Jan. 15, but the federal holiday is observed on the third Monday in January.
The 2008 session got off to a slow start in the newly renovated state Capitol because of a snowstorm, although there was little urgency. The first day is primarily a ceremonial occasion with little work being done.
Utah was the last state in the country to name a holiday in honor of King. In 2001, legislators designated what had been Human Rights Day to the memory of King.
Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, mistakenly referred to the King holiday as Human Rights Day on Monday while he spoke on the Senate floor.
Stephenson was speaking to honor King and acknowledge this would probably be the last year the Legislature met on the holiday.
"I want to express my appreciation for what Dr. King has left us with his legacy," Stephenson said.
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has long criticized Utah's reluctance. Utah is one of a handful of states to have its Legislature work on a holiday when regular state employees get the day off.
Lawmakers said they were honoring King's memory by meeting on the holiday. The NAACP holds a luncheon on the same day that it encourages lawmakers to attend, but few do. Gov. Jon Huntsman was scheduled to appear at the luncheon Monday.
There are no black legislators in Utah, where blacks make up about 1 percent of the population.
Lawmakers brushed aside the criticism about meeting on the King holiday until last year, when they endorsed a constitutional change that would allow them to meet on the fourth Monday in January.
Voters will decide in November whether to approve, making 2009 the first year the Legislature could avoid doing business on the King holiday.
Under the plan lawmakers approved last year and voters will decide in November, the Legislature would not meet on any federal holiday, but the annual session still would last 45 days.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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