GOP has taken odd stand on vouchers

The following column is not an endorsement of private school vouchers; neither is it an opposition statement on vouchers.

Rather, it is an examination of what I see as a very odd political stand taken by leading conservative Republicans in Utah, and why they may be taking that stand.

While others may certainly disagree, I see the private-school voucher movement as a classic government entitlement program. It is also a government redistribution of wealth, one that in reality may well help the more well-to-do among us (who can afford to send their children to private schools) at the cost of the least well-to-do among us (who can't afford, even with a bit of state taxes, to send their children to private schools).

In both areas, one would think that conservative Utah Republicans would be against both a new government entitlement program and against a redistribution of wealth.

Not so. The very base of the pro-voucher movement comes from conservative Republicans. To me, an odd development.

First, two definitions. According to Webster, entitlement means: A right to benefits specified by law. And redistribute means: To spread to other areas.

Well, HB148 — the main voucher bill passed by the 2007 Legislature — certainly meets those definitions.

If you have a child between certain ages (5 to 21) and you send that child to a qualifying private school (including schools run by a religion — like Judge Memorial Catholic High School) you are entitled to a tuition benefit. You get a benefit no matter how small or large your income.

A single mom making $30,000 a year would get $2,750 to send her lone child to a private school, while a millionaire family would get $500 to send its child to a private school. While the lower-income mom gets more money, both families get something.

HB148 would provide private-school vouchers of between $500 and $3,000 per child for 2007-08. And by law, those "scholarships" — in itself a strange use of the word, considering the entitlement payment has little to do with a student's performance in school, only that they attend and not get kicked out for failing grades or behavior — will increase by the same amount each year as the state's basic funding formula for public schools, the weighted pupil unit.

How does HB148 pay for vouchers? It takes money not from the Uniform School Fund — the public-school-leveling fund enriched by law from personal and business income taxes — but from the state's General Fund. Various taxes flow into the General Fund, but by far most of its monies come from the state sales tax.