Burningham unfair on voucher issue

Recently I presented more than 4,000 families' requests for voucher applications to State Board of Education Chairman Kim Burningham. It was a few days after the legal deadline by which the State Office of Education was to have such applications available. The office missed the deadline because Burningham's board refused to adopt rules for the program as required by law.

Burningham accepted the applications and thanked me for sharing the information. He told me that the board is dedicated to making sure every child in Utah has the chance for a quality education.

That's right in line with his board's mission: "Provide leadership, vision and advocacy so that all students have educational opportunities to meet their potential."

Unfortunately, that's not what's happening. I reminded Mr. Burningham that these 4,000 requests are for "real" children who need a good education. Aren't these kids, including mine, part of "all students"?

These moms and dads just want what the board says is its mission. State law now includes a voucher program that will help my child, and thousands more, get the education they deserve.

But the board, led by Chairman Burningham, is refusing to implement that program for political reasons.

Burningham is one of the five founders of and a spokesman for Utahns for Public Schools. That's the committee of union officers, politicians and establishment educators that filed a referendum petition against sections of the voucher law that they want to repeal.

This presents Burningham with a massive conflict of interest. He speaks on behalf of the group fighting to stop vouchers and is the leader of the group responsible for implementing them. How can he be fair and unbiased after putting himself in such incompatible positions?

The attorney general, once in a legal opinion to Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. and once in a strongly worded letter to Burningham's board, has made clear that the voucher program is a valid law that must be followed.

Burningham still won't follow it. He disguises his refusal as ignorance, saying he doesn't know how to implement the law without definitions and other branches of the program that are now on hold.

This is another consequence of his conflict of interest. He led the charge to put sections of the voucher law on hold until approved by voters. Now he refuses to move forward with the main program that is still in effect.

Burningham created the "confusion" that he now says keeps him from obeying the law.

That is not ethical. He should not be leading the political fight against the very program that he is legally charged with putting in place.

I understand that he is politically opposed to school vouchers and wants to undermine the program. But he can't challenge and implement it at the same time. Right now, he is putting his political opinions in front of his legal responsibility as an elected official.

No man can serve two masters. Chairman Burningham should resign from the State Board of Education.

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Rachel Ringwood is a voucher advocate living in Salt Lake City.