Pennsylvania and Florida offer a corporate tax credit worth up to 75 cents on the donated dollar, Clements reports. Pennsylvania caps the credit at $200,000 per corporation and $54 million overall. Florida's program doesn't cap the tax credit for businesses, but they can't give more than $5 million to a single nonprofit. The statewide program ceiling is $88 million.

Clements said her group is not talking to any particular legislator about such a program.

"We just want to put it out on the table," Clements said. "If they're interested in serving these children who need something else, here's one way to do it."

Dayton, who is committee vice chairwoman, also knew of no efforts to draft such a bill. Even so, she added, "I think it's certainly worthy of discussion."

But legislative leaders say: not this year.

"You can call it vouchers, you can call it scholarship payments, you can call it tax credits or deductions, it ain't happen' in the 2008 (legislative) session," said House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy. "I don't know how much clearer I can say it."

Curtis said any one of the 104 legislators can introduce any bill. But the 2008 session will be for "working within the public education system, not outside of it."

An income-tax credit or deduction for any Utah business giving to a private school scholarship fund would take money from public schools, since by the Utah Constitution, all individual and corporate income taxes go to education.

The idea has been contentious in past tuition tax-credit bills, with opponents worrying a business essentially could funnel its entire income-tax liability to private schools. Still, the Senate passed a bill containing such a provision in 2003, Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, noted.

Still, in last week's election, "the public said they did not want any kind of private school actions on dealing with student growth," Valentine said. "So, we have to look at other solutions to the student growth. And it appears, because of that vote, that those solutions must be within the public school sector."

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