For example, no disclosure has been made about who exactly gave about 77 percent of the money raised this year by Parents For Choice in Education PIC — $270,000 of $350,445, the newspaper found.

Parents for Choice in Education has formed four separate groups — a political action committee, a corporation and a foundation — to help raise and/or spend its money. Utah law requires the PIC and PAC to report donors, but not the corporation and foundation.

The PIC is doing most of the spending in the voucher battle. But most of the money going to it is from the corporation and foundation, which need not disclose donors. Thus, the original source of much of that money is unknown.

Leah Barker, spokeswoman for Parents For Choice in Education, said her group formed so many different entities "because different entities are allowed by the IRS code to do different things," such as lobbying, educating or spending on a referendum campaign.

Is it using those many groups to intentionally cloud who is funding activities? "Absolutely not," Barker said.

But Susan Kuziak, executive director of the UEA, said, "It concerns me that they (Parents For Choice in Education) are not more transparent." She said she would like to know more about where the group's money comes from "because they are on TV with an ad and have been on the radio all along."

Also, an anti-voucher PIC formed by Communities For Quality Education does not make clear from where its root funding is coming.

The CQE PIC reported spending $133,400 on the Utah voucher battle so far. But it reports raising no money at all — raising questions about who provided the money it says it spent. Its report says its cash balance as of Sept. 17 was a negative $133,400.

CQE spokesman Damien Filer said the parent organization is a nonprofit education advocacy group, and operations money from it went to fund its PIC.

A split Legislature

While GOP leaders in the Legislature formed a group to try to preserve vouchers, nine other members of the Legislature have instead given a total of $4,285 to the anti-voucher Utahns For Public Schools.

They include both Democrats and Republicans who voted against vouchers — Sens. Mike Dmitrich, D-Price, who gave $500; Ross Romero, D-Salt Lake, $500; Scott McCoy, D-Salt Lake, $485; and Reps. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, $1,500; Jim Bird, R-West Jordan, $300; Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, $300; Lou Shurtliff, D-Ogden, $300; Roz McGee, D-Salt Lake, $300; and Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, $100.

Meanwhile, Hughes said the GOP leaders' town-hall meetings provide, along with a number of handouts, a 10-minute video put together by the Utah Taxpayers Association, a business-backed group that also supports vouchers.