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Utah voucher issue appears doomed

I still don't get why they oppose the vouchers. They say it harms families? Okay how? There ads are vague and don't really tell you why the vouchers are bad.

Vouchers for less than two percent of Utah's students create shadows of caste establishment. Thus, unfavorable views appear in polls. Vouchers to all student's parents may have been a better idea.

I agree with Brian. They say it is "Full of flaws". What are they? Why shouldn't the parents be able to make the choice. Please give us more information on why it is bad!

Vouchers would take money away from the already woefully underfunded public schools; what more explanation is necessary?

Funny. The more the pro-voucher people advertise, the more people see right through the mess.

Did I actually read that the anti-voucher side has gained 3% percentage points?

Excellent. Let's make all of the schools better not just those for the rich and famous.

If it is really about educating the kids..what's the problem? The big argument seems to be control of education by the unions.

Parents have a choice. Send your children to a different school, nobody has a problem with that. It is just that nobody wants to give you money to do that. Nobody wants to give public money to schools that have no public accountability. The issue is really quite simple, and it is not about choice. You already have a choice.

I don't think you will find one proposal that won't at least have a few questions. We can't simply walk away from something because there are unknowns. Anti-voucher opponents may find that this tactic will backfire against them in the future when they provide proposals of their own.

All I see from the anti-voucher crowd at this point is that maintaining the status quo is the best future for Utah's students. As Clark Kerr is reported to have said, "The status quo is the only solution that cannot be vetoed."

Can someone help me out? Isn't Kim Burningham the Head of the Utah Department of Education?

Why doesn't the Leg. just do the same thing as with the soccer stadium? Pass it anyway and ram it down the public's throat. Who runs this state?

Let me ask the panel here. How come is fair that our school districts pay for 1/2 or the full salary of union presidents around the state, so she or he can carry out the Union work? Spending the tax money in business no related to education, but politics "it is wrong". UEA preach but doesn't practice! I would love to see the Deseret News write a report regarding this issue.

Schools that accept voucher money are not held to the same standard as Public Schools. They don't have to have certified teachers. They don't have to have programs to help special ed children. They don't have to give the end of year Core Test, that all public students must take to show their yearly progress. If a child isn't successful in their school, they can kick the child out. I wouldn't be opposed to vouchers if they treated all children fairly, but with vouchers, the schools can take our public tax dollars and not be held accountable if children don't succeed; unlike public schools.

Aren't the legislators that are pushing vouchers so hard the same ones that are also pushing Charter schools? Since Charter schools are not Private schools it makes you wonder what is their real agenda. With some former legislators are in the business of building Charter schools, is their hope that when the charters run out that they will have a system of private schools in place, complete with tuition vouchers. Are they hoping to reap the rewards of their legislative efforts? Whose best interest do they have in mind, their constituents or their own?

Vouchers hurt government control over education. Certain people (government lovers) don't like that. The essential question here is who should decide how children are educated - the government or parents. If you say parents, then vote for the vouchers.

When my son started kindergarten, we found out that his teacher was disliked by almost all of the parents from last year's class (she was rude, condescending, treated the children like they were complete idiots, etc.). We found out that our son was put in that class because we had just moved into the area and the school seemed to believe that new move-ins wouldn't know this teacher's reputation.

We tried everything we could to get our son out of this teacher's class and/or get the teacher out of the school. Nothing worked. Union rules prevented the school from firing her until about three-fourths of the way into the school year. Meanwhile my child's education suffered dramatically. If vouchers would have been available to us, our son would have been out of there as fast we could take him. Instead, my son's education suffered at the hands of the teacher's union. Giver parents the choice, not government.

Perhaps government schools are underfunded because a significant number of Utahns don't like their one-size-fits-all approach.

If you're in the majority, don't oppress the minority that wants to pull their children and some of their money out of what many consider to be a failed system.

Let our people go.

Vote for Referendum One.

I am totally opposed to the voucher system for one simple reason, tax increase. The cost of this program is huge and anyone who thinks that the government will "give" money out without making up for it some where else is dreaming.
I am not pro public schools or against the voucher program. I am against getting stuck with even higher taxes. Somwhere this has got to stop so my answer to the voucher program is NO!

THE ONLY THING THE TEACHER'S ARE FEARING IS THAT MORE STUDENT'S WILL EXIT THE SCHOOL DISTRICT'S TO GET A BETTER EDUCATION / THE SCHOOLS HAVE TO TEACH DOWN TO THE LOWEST DENOMINATOR STUDENT THUSTLY THE STUDENT'S THAT WANT'TO LEARN CAN NOT UNTILL THE LOWEST STUDENT GET'S TO THEIR LEVIL LET ALONE LEARN TO SPEAK ENGLISH

Education of your children is the parents job, not the public education system. Vouchers (especially lower income) will help parents educate their children the way they want to. Why do we insist on throwing more money at a system that is broken and so entrenched that it fails to change and adapt to its environment. Vouchers will send a clear message to educators that if they continuously fail to perform, they may lose their livelihood. Something needs to send a message to the UEA and the State Department of Education. Voting against the vouchers tells those organizations, UEA and dept. of Ed., that the job they perform is adequate, if not preferred. Vote Yes to wake up UEA and dept. of Ed. Vote Yes for Change. Vote Yes for Parents. Vote Yes for the future. Most importantly, Vote Yes for the Children

Vouchers don't take the money away from the public schools at all. The actually leave an average of $5,500 there to fund a student that will no longer attend the school, thus lowering class sizes and increasing per student funding. This is about parent's right to choose. Parents know best, not a huge state agency. When schools are held accountable directly to the parents, that's when true progress will begin. As I learned in my Econ. class back in the day, competition makes everyone better. It's time our public schools faced a little competition of their own.

I'm a school teacher and I'm a member of the teacher's union. Believe me, I or my fellow members do not control the schools. I wish. Maybe then I could get some of my parents to get out of denial and get the help for their children they so desperately need. It breaks my heart that I can't help my darling students. I need more help in my classroom. Boy, could I tell you some stories.