Truce urged in voucher tiff

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said Wednesday that it's time for an end to what he labeled skirmishes over vouchers.

Speaking at his monthly news conference broadcast on KUED Channel 7, the governor said, "The school board and the Legislature and the Attorney General's Office need to work out their differences so that it in no way has a deleterious impact on teachers and students.

"That's all that we ought to care about at this point. Teachers and students. It's a pretty simple thing."

Lawmakers last week had a heated discussion with the state board over balance of power. The board and the attorney general's office also have butted heads over legal representation arising from a controversial voucher law.

The board acted on advice of in-house attorneys instead of Attorney General Mark Shurtleff's when they did not implement a second voucher law they felt was an amendment that couldn't stand on its own. A citizens referendum put the original voucher law up for a public vote.

Huntsman said he agreed with Shurtleff that the state board should have implemented vouchers as called for in the bill that was not part of the referendum.

"That was the law of the land until we, of course, had the court case suggest otherwise," the governor said, adding that Shurtleff "is doing what he thinks is right and appropriate as attorney general."

But, Huntsman said, the discussions should not be allowed to "so intensify and sour the relationships that we have with one another where we can't get the big picture issues done."

Asked about the possibility that vouchers could be revived next year by lawmakers if voters reject the program at the polls in November, the governor said the vote should be telling.

"But I do think the voice of the people is a very, very powerful thing, and it shouldn't be underestimated. And when the numbers are in in November, I think that will largely manifest the appetite of our state for voucher policy going forward."