Voucher wars
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No Comments [ Add Comment ]Another milestone was reached in Utah's years-long battle over the subject of private-school vouchers: On Monday, Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert certified there were enough signatures on petitions to force a public vote on the matter -- probably in November or February.
The voucher debate has been contentious in Utah, and after several years of trying, voucher proponents finally squeaked by with a one-vote margin in the Utah House this year. The bill, which was signed immediately by Gov. Jon Huntsman, would give tax credits of $500 to $3,000 to families for each child withdrawn from public schools to be educated in private schools.
Vouchers are opposed for various reasons, but we think the most compelling is that tax dollars should not be going to fund private education, and especially not at religious schools. Various opinion polls have shown that a majority of Utahns -- between 55 percent and 65 percent -- agree that vouchers aren't a good idea.
In the wake of the voucher petitions' certification -- 124,518 signatures were OK'd, even though petition backers only needed 91,966; and they reached the threshold in 25 of Utah's 29 counties, even though they only needed to reach the 10 percent mark in 15 counties -- there are a couple of interesting circumstances worth commenting on.
First, petitioners in Weber County failed to meet their minimum. (Neither did Washington, Summit and San Juan counties.) In Weber, they needed 7,000 signatures, but managed only 5,300. Petition supporters said their internal polling prior to the 30-day signature-gathering period indicated strong support for the anti-voucher campaign. Most observers are blaming a transition in PTA leadership that coincided with the drive to get signatures.
Whatever the case, that lack of organization could haunt the public vote. Anti-voucher forces will need every vote they can get.
Why? Because the Huntsman administration is obviously supportive of vouchers. The governor signed the narrowly passed bill before anyone could lobby against it, and the odd behavior of Herbert's office on the day he announced the petition drive's certification is telling. Herbert's office issued invitations to the announcement beforehand, and those not on the list included anti-voucher groups, while those invited included pro-voucher advocates. We can only surmise that Herbert wanted to give the pro-voucher people one more chance to make their public plea.
Given the gubernatorial and legislative support, that probably means the voucher vote will come in February to coincide with Utah's presidential primary election. Turnout will likely be lower than it would in November, which would favor the pro-voucher side, but the argument -- a good one -- will be that it's fiscally prudent because holding a statewide election in November would cost taxpayers $3.5 million.
In the meantime, then, Weber County had better get its act together if it wants to be part of the voucher law's defeat.
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