Battles brewing on school funding

The 2005 Legislature has an extra $370 million to play with, and a little more than half is earmarked for education.

But that doesn't mean lobbyists will relax.

The fight over money for schools is expected to continue full force, with private school vouchers and tuition tax credits in the direct line of fire.

But the battlefield, which will also include the perennial "Jones-Mascaro" education funding bill and state posturing on No Child Left Behind — is shifting.

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr., unlike Govs. Mike Leavitt and Olene Walker, is conceptually on board with "school choice" legislation, chief of staff Jason Chaffetz said. That alone could grease the legislative wheels.

Supporters believe the measures will empower parents to seek the best schooling for struggling kids and save the state money.

But they concern some public school leaders.

"Philosophically, giving public dollars to private schools is something we don't agree with," Utah Education Association President Pat Rusk said. "It makes so much more sense for us to find the cracks (in the public school system) and fix them than to fund another system."

HB39, sponsored by Rep. Jim Ferrin, R-Orem, would give parents a tax credit of up to $2,000 but be worth no more than half their private school tuition. Current private school students would be ineligible.

It also would give people and businesses a credit for donating to a private school scholarship fund.

But the bill is changing, and could be scaled to favor low-income families. It also could fuse with a bill sought by Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, which partly sets aside $1.5 million from the Rainy Day fund to ensure schools don't lose money.

Possible changes could attract House moderates, who have held up the bill in past years.

"Certainly, there are a number of people out there who have been concerned . . . the bill would only benefit the rich," said Royce Van Tassell, spokesman for Education Excellence Utah. "Introduce a means (income) test, and that concern sort of disappears."

But it's uncertain how residents would view such provisions.

A poll published in the Deseret Morning News last week showed just 36 percent favoring "an income tax credit for parents for private school tuition, or for any person or company donating to a private school scholarship foundation." Sixty-one percent surveyed opposed it, according to the Dan Jones & Associates survey of 623 Utah residents.

The poll has a 4 percent error margin.

Survey respondents do, however, favor vouchers for students with disabilities attending private schools. Sixty-four percent strongly or somewhat favored the concept. Twenty-nine percent somewhat or strongly opposed them, and 7 percent didn't know.