From Deseret News archives:
Voucher proponents have the uphill climb
The high court said that however citizens vote on the main voucher bill, HB148, on Nov. 6, that's how Utah's proposed tax-subsidy system for private-school tuition will go.
Vote up HB148, and the state has a voucher system.
Vote down HB148, and the proposed voucher system dies.
Looking from the outside, the conservatives' strong support on vouchers may not make a lot of practical sense it's much more philosophical than realistic.
Why can one say that?
Simple numbers.
More than 95 percent of Utah families send their children to public schools. Utah has one of the lowest private-school attendances in the nation.
There are many reasons for this:
Financial Utahns tend to have larger families and lower average wages, so they can't afford to send their children to private schools.
So I have found it odd that conservative legislators have battled so long and so hard for a private-school voucher program that has questionable benefits for most Utahns.
In part, the strong GOP support of vouchers, I believe, falls back on the long-time and some may say irrational hatred of the Utah Education Association.
The UEA, the state's largest teacher union, and the Parent-Teachers Association are two of the strongest opponents of vouchers.
The UEA has for years been one of the most effective political organizations in Utah. With hundreds of thousands of dollars spent in every legislative cycle to elect Democrats and moderate Republicans, the UEA is derided and feared by many legislative GOP conservatives.
Conservatives have actually passed laws aimed at harming the union's political fund raising.
The fervor by which some GOP lawmakers are defending vouchers these days can also be ascribed to two human traits stubbornness and loyalty.
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