I believe school vouchers are economic segregation.

I doubt there are very many people in Utah, certainly not in Utah County, who attended segregated schools. I did and I can see that evil creeping into Utah, only it would be by economics this time, rather than race. But it would be segregation nonetheless, which would make it a real moral issue, as opposed to whatever the editors were referring to in the Daily Herald's April 10 editorial.

Right now, the disputed Utah law about school vouchers is political not moral. Only if it goes into use will it be a violation of the public and private morals of Utah residents.

That some parents want and can afford to send their children to private schools is indeed parental choice. But, for Utah to set up a system that segregates certain populations of children from other populations of children is morally wrong and amounts to segregation.

So, how would it be segregation?

Perhaps a brief description of my public school experience will throw some light on the issue. Because I had never known any differently, I did not realize when I attended public schools from 1945-1958, in the southeast United States, that there were no minorities, nor handicapped, nor emotionally challenged, nor learning disabled children in my classes. Only in my late teens did I begin to understand how alike we all were.

When I entered the real world, away from the south, I realized quickly that I did not know how to interact with any of the groups who had been segregated out of my school experience. It took me years to learn.

And that's what school vouchers would do: Only rich and upper-middle-class families would be able to afford the remainder of tuition, after a school voucher was paid.

Certainly, we poor people, who can barely afford the public school fees, would be excluded from the possibility of our children going to private schools. We could not come up with the difference between private school tuition and what would be offered in a school voucher.

So there would be, as there are now, very few poor families with children in private schools. In addition, private schools include few if any minorities or handicapped, emotionally challenged or learning disabled children. Private schools can pick and choose who is admitted. If a child becomes a problem, out they go and usually he or she goes back to the public schools.

There has never been another country in history that has tried to educate all of its children. The American public school system is a great experiment and absolutely necessary if we are to remain a free country. Is it perfect? Of course not. But it does try to educate every child. We must protect that system, even as we work to make it better.

I've been gone all winter (if you've got family in South Florida, why stay in Utah for snow and ice?) and got back to Utah as the petition drive was almost over. I looked, but never found a petition to sign; but, I can assure anyone who will listen that I will work to get people out to vote to repeal the school voucher law. Here is one vote against the law that can be counted on.

I am in no way associated with any of the groups as described in the Herald's editorial as protecting their power base. According to the editorial, the group responsible for forcing the vote of the people includes public school teachers, administrators and PTA members. Somehow, tagging that group as power hungry seems a bit odd to me. Public school teachers are some of the lowest-paid professionals in this state, with school administrators right behind in low pay, and PTA members are all volunteers (no pay). If money is power, and usually power is judged by how much money is available, this is a very low-power group.

I don't see how public school teachers and administrators and PTA volunteers have much power to protect. What they do have is a dedicated love of children and want ALL children to have the best possible education.

That will not happen if economic segregation, in the guise of school vouchers, is allowed to go forward.

Joyce Baggerly is a resident of Provo.