• Most K-8 private schools cost less than $4,500, sometimes a lot less. Ninety-four percent of Utah families already live in counties with private schools that can be made affordable with vouchers.

• Vouchers will hold school administrators accountable by allowing parents to seek other schools when their local ones do not serve their children well.

SOURCE: Parents for Choice in Education

Voucher foes' arguments

• Utah has the most overcrowded classrooms in the country, and the state ranks last in spending per student. Instead of diverting school funding to vouchers, Utahns should increase our investment in public schools.

• Voucher schools may hire teachers without a college degree or a state license. These schools don't have to be accredited and don't have to meet the same course work or attendance standards that public schools must meet.

• The lack of accountability or oversight of voucher schools opens the door to waste, fraud and abuse of taxpayer dollars.

• Vouchers will cost far more than they will save — hundreds of millions of dollars over 13 years, according to the official impartial analysis. This is money that will not be available to assist the 96 percent of Utah's children who attend public school, money that could otherwise be used to help reduce class size, buy textbooks and provide all students with the education they deserve.

• Vouchers won't help many Utah families anyway because more than half of Utah counties have no private schools at all.

• Even if an eligible student is chosen by a voucher school, there is no guarantee that there will be a voucher available for that student now or in the future. Vouchers run out when the funds do.

• Even with a voucher, most Utah families will not be able to afford expensive private school tuition, which averages $8,000 per child per year.

• Parents will not choose voucher schools. Voucher schools will choose students because the schools do not have to accept students who read below grade level or don't speak English very well.

SOURCE: Utahns for Public Schools

Schools that have indicated they will be accepting vouchers should a program exist:

American Heritage of South Jordan — South Jordan

American Legacy Academy — American Fork

Aspen Academy — Loa

Blessed Sacrament School — Sandy