Dixie lawmaker seeks changes in new law on school vouchers

A week after legislation establishing a controversial school voucher program was signed into law, a last-minute supporter of the bill wants some changes.

Rep. Brad Last, R-St. George, introduced a separate bill Friday that proposes changes to HB148, known as the Parent Choice in Education Act. The new bill requires that more money be given to the Utah State Office of Education for oversight of the program, that the program's teachers be subjected to criminal background checks and that the state perform an audit of the program earlier than the seven years set forth in HB148.

"I'm making some pretty minor changes to the (original) bill — doing it as a companion bill, really," Last said. "Instead of doing it to the voucher bill and derailing that, I wanted to make sure that the bill was through the House and the Senate, signed by the governor and then just make a few minor changes."

The new bill, HB174, has already been introduced in the House and is awaiting the printing of a fiscal note. Instead of the original $100,000 in oversight monies already directed to the state for oversight of the program, the new bill asks for $200,000 in ongoing funds.

"The reason I want to give the state a little more money to handle administration is because I don't want to get into the same challenges as charter schools, where we didn't have the administrative functions in place and down the road we realize that we've got some problems that now need to be fixed," Last said.

The additional money would go toward administration costs.

Much like in public school programs, under the new bill teachers seeking employment in the private schools accepting vouchers would have to undergo a criminal background check to ensure students' safety.

Last said a legislative audit in seven years would not allow lawmakers to see the effectiveness of the program soon enough, so he has proposed an audit of the system in five years.

The original bill, sponsored by Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, sets forth a scholarship program, giving Utah parents a private-school voucher ranging in value from $500 to $3,000 per student. The value of each award is based on family income.

Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr. signed the original bill into law Feb. 12. Since then, several groups have been considering litigation questioning the constitutionality of the law. The concept has been controversial since it was first introduced to the Legislature more than seven years ago.

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E-mail: wleonard@desnews.com; terickson@desnews.com