Voucher tumult reaches top court

The legal and political soap opera now running over private school vouchers turns to a new chapter today as the Utah Supreme Court hears pro- and anti-voucher arguments.

The move comes a day after Attorney General Mark Shurtleff tried to "terminate" the two attorneys who work for the Utah Board of Education, and Democratic legislators called on Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to immediately call a special session to "fix" the voucher mess.

The high court is to hear arguments at 10 a.m. Huntsman has said, if possible, he'd like to see a high court decision on vouchers before he decides whether a summer special legislative session is needed.

As it now stands, the main voucher bill, HB148, is set to go before voters with a referendum vote Nov. 6.

In a letter sent to the state board Thursday, Shurtleff, a Republican, "terminated" the "special assistant attorney general" status of two long-time state board attorneys.

An hour after receiving the letter, members of the Utah Board of Education decided to ignore the letter and allow the two attorneys to "continue in their current status."

The pair, Jean Hill and Carol Lear, technically work for the independently elected Utah Board of Education — and Shurtleff can't take them off their jobs.

But under a long-standing agreement, the pair had been deputized as assistant attorneys general, as if they worked indirectly on Shurtleff's behalf as legal advisers for the state and the school board.

In his letter to Lear — Hill never actually received her letter — Shurtleff complained that against his

specific legal advice on vouchers, the attorneys disregarded his order that a companion bill, HB174, take effect and vouchers be implemented in Utah.

In fact, by recommending to the board that vouchers not be implemented, the pair actually worked against him, Shurtleff said.

The state board refused to release Shurtleff's letter, but it showed up on www.slcspin.com, a political commentary Web site.

"You have fostered an adversarial and hostile relationship between the State Board of Education and this office, giving advice contrary and inconsistent with advice given by me and others in the Attorney General's Office," Shurtleff wrote.