And, even though the Legislature's own staff attorneys wrote the ballot language, legislators don't have any say in changing the language. That can only be done through an appeal to the Utah Supreme Court. And the only party with legal standing to bring that issue, says Legislative General Counsel Gay Taylor, is the group that organized and collected signatures for the referendum itself.

The state board earlier this month held off on creating a rule to put the voucher program in motion because they said HB174 has too many holes. They feared getting sued no matter what they do.

Shurtleff, in a letter that became public earlier this week, told them to move forward and implement the law.

"I always tell my clients to obey the law because they're always on much better ground than if they don't," Shurtleff said Friday. "If someone then sues, we'll defend you and see if the court believes 174 can stand on its own."

The board has submitted a list of 25 legal questions to Shurtleff's office on that matter. Shurtleff said his office, which by law is the education office's legal counsel, should have responses by early next week.

Meanwhile, parents and school choice advocates dropped off a stack of about 4,000 applications for vouchers at the State Office of Education Friday, Parents for Choice in Education executive director Elisa Peterson said.

"Utah families have waited seven years for school choice. Here it's been created ... and all this political wrangling is going on," Peterson said. Yet she would not say whether a special session would effectively clear up the political wrangling. "It's about doing what's best for kids right now. They need choice this fall, that's what they need."

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