Vouchers are good, vouchers are bad: Both sides of the controversial referendum on Friday submitted formal arguments to the Lieutenant Governor's Office, which will put them and soon-to-come rebuttals into a voter information pamphlet.

Utahns will go to the polls in November to vote on Citizens State Referendum 1, which seeks to repeal a brand-new law allowing parents to receive government vouchers for private school tuition. The vouchers range from $500 to $3,000, based on income.

Here's a summary of the arguments for and against vouchers, with full papers available at www.elections.utah.gov. Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, and Stephen Urquhart, R-St. George, had planned to pen the pro-voucher argument but could not be reached to confirm their authorship; Sen. Jon Greiner, R-Ogden, and Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, wrote the arguments against vouchers.

For vouchers: Public schools work well, but some students fall through the cracks, and they should be able to access the school that fits their needs, regardless of income. Vouchers also will help divert to private schools some of the 150,000 new schoolchildren expected to enter Utah schools in the next decade. That will stave off a potential tax increase needed to educate all those students.

Also, "for every child that uses a scholarship, money is sent to the public school district where she would have attended." So, public schools get more money and reduced class size, and parents get to choose the appropriate school for their children.

Against vouchers: Utah schools are leaders in student performance even though they rank last in the country in per-student funding. That said, they cannot afford to subsidize existing private schools, or Utahns making more than $100,000 a year. Legislative researchers project vouchers would cost taxpayers $429 million over the next 13 years, and after five years, public school funding will drop "to reflect transfers to private schools." The state also cannot afford to encourage new private schools, which could become tools for cultural division and lack sufficient accountability. Such a program also begs legal questions, as the Utah Constitution prohibits direct public funding of church-sponsored schools.

Both sides now have until July 13 to write rebuttals, which also will be included in the voter information guide.

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