I found myself agreeing with only one thing Michael Morris said in his opinion piece, "Vouchers: Tickets to true education" -- "All of Utah's children deserve 'a true education.'"

If, by "true education," he means Utah's schoolchildren deserve the best we can give them, the evidence points in a direction other than vouchers. In fact, it's pretty clear he didn't do his homework on the subject. Here are some examples:

In an August 2006 Gallup Poll, the public was asked "what would be the best way to improve high school education in the United States today?" Vouchers ranked 14th out of 19 responses, with only 2 percent of the public mentioning them. Quality teachers (17 percent), back to a basic curriculum (14 percent), and better discipline (9 percent) were all much more popular responses than vouchers.

Studies of international voucher programs are consistent with the near consensus in the United States; Vouchers provide no benefits for needy students and increase social and economic segregation among schools.

Vouchers in Chile, for example, have had a negative effect on student achievement, while broadening the achievement gap between low-income and middle- and upper-income students.

Voucher proponents talk about the importance of "choice" in education, but the current voucher "battle" in the Utah Legislature has nothing to do with choice. It's driven by political agendas and organizations from outside of Utah who want to use public tax dollars to subsidize private industry.

I am confident that, if the people of Utah were given a vote on this issue, they would vote against vouchers and in favor of education reforms that work -- smaller class sizes, modern classroom tools and resources, and competitive salaries to attract and retain quality teachers in every classroom.

Two recent polls in major Utah newspapers support this argument. Utah taxpayers deserve the best return on their investment in public schools, and vouchers are "a slippery slope," to say the least. Let's look at what has happened with taxpayer money in other voucher states:

At the Harambee Community School (a part of the Milwaukee voucher system), the former chief financial officer was convicted of two counts of theft, 10 counts of forgery and three counts of filing false income tax returns. During a four-year period, the CFO diverted three-quarters of a million dollars from the school to businesses he controlled and to his personal use, including the remodeling of his home.

Exito High School (a part of the Milwaukee voucher system) closed in the middle of the school year when its founder/principal fled the state after being charged with embezzlement. He was ultimately caught and convicted of padding enrollment figures to receive additional state funding.

The Golden Christian Academy (a part of the Cleveland voucher system) operated as a parent-run "video school" in which students sat in front of a television and watched recorded lessons given by an on-screen teacher. The school lacked a fire safety certificate, student immunization records and posted emergency procedures.

FloridaChild, once the largest distributor of corporate tax credit vouchers, is under investigation for irregular recordkeeping. It allegedly required parents to pay an application fee and pressured private schools to kick back a percentage of each voucher awarded.

It is painful to the more than 25,000 hard working public school educators to be denigrated as people without moral or religious values when in fact Utah's teachers are reflective of the community at large. Nationwide, public school teachers teach and participate in their own religion at the highest rates of any profession, and that rate is even higher in Utah.

Public schools leave the teaching of religion to the parents, seminaries and/or church-affiliated programs. Would we want it any other way? That does not mean that our public schools are without values. Our public school teachers model and teach the shared values of hard work, personal responsibility, respect for law and order, honesty, civic involvement, and respect and caring for others.

Our public schools are microcosms of society where students learn one of the most important lessons of all: How to uphold their own beliefs while respecting others who have differing beliefs and opinions.

We are grateful to those parents who hold our profession and schools in high regard and demonstrate that by, not only choosing public schools, but advocating for the kind of reforms that will make a real difference -- smaller class sizes to provide individualized attention, up-to-date resources and technology, and quality teachers in every classroom.

Kim Campbell is president of the Utah Education Association.