Hundreds rally for voucher law

The State Board of Education and the Utah Attorney General's Office are at a standoff.

Last Friday, Attorney General Mark Shurtleff sent a strongly worded letter to the State Board of Education directing it to immediately implement a voucher law. But state education officials say it's Shurtleff's place to issue advice, not directives.

Meanwhile, more than 1,000 parents, students, lawmakers and education officials rallied at the Capitol on Tuesday to show their support for the school voucher law and their disapproval of the state board's refusal to implement the law.

Voucher applications were supposed to be ready today for parents to apply for money that would help send their children to a private school.

But now the original law is on hold since it is being referred to a vote, and the state board so far has not implemented a second law, which passed as an amendment bill.

And state education officials, who received the letter over the weekend, say the AG doesn't have the constitutional authority to tell the state board what it will do.

"The board is not going to rush into implementing something that is going to get it into trouble because Mark Shurtleff suddenly decides that we have to do it," said State Office of Education attorney Jean Hill. "That is for those 15 elected board members to decide, with the best legal advice they can get. And 'just do it' isn't good legal advice."

The Legislature passed the voucher law, HB148, this spring. It would provide Utah families with a private-school tuition voucher ranging from $500 to $3,000 per student attending a private school, based on the parents' income.

Voucher opponents, however, don't want public money going to private schools. They collected 124,000 petition signatures and put the law on hold, pending a referendum vote in November.

But HB174, which made a few changes in the law, was not targeted by the referendum and went into effect last month. According to voucher proponents and the Attorney General's Office, that measure has enough language in it to stand alone.

Even so, state board leaders said the amendment law is fragmented and missing some critical sections and they question whether it is even possible to implement a program from the second law.