Like a couple of rival schools, the pro-voucher and anti-voucher groups really know how to go at it.

Just days after a bill allowing school vouchers passed through the Legislature, a group is working to keep it from the books.

Utahns for Public Schools filed a referendum with Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert's office just one day after the Utah Legislature ended. Due to a spelling error and several changes they decided to make, it was re-filed Monday morning.

"After the voucher vote, we had to ask ourselves, 'Is this a done dealfi,' " said Pat Rusk, Utahns for Public Schools spokeswoman. "It seems anything with this kind of impact on the state would be the perfect issue to take to the voters."

Utahns for Public Schools is combined of groups including the Utah Education Association, Utah PTA, Utah School Boards Association and the Salt Lake Branch of the NAACP.

In favor of vouchers and a major supporter of the original bill is Parents for Choice in Education.

"This is not about doing what's best for the kids, it's about keeping control in the hands of big unions," said Elisa Peterson, the executive director of Parents for Choice in Education, about the effort to counter the voucher movement.

"We are getting e-mails and phone calls constantly from parents who are thrilled about the vouchers," she said.

The act would make $9.2 million available for parents to use toward private schooling. Utahns will qualify based on income and family size for the $500-$3,000 vouchers.

But parents may have to wait to apply for a voucher -- perhaps indefinitely.

The Utahns for Public Schools group has less than 40 days to get 91,998 signatures, or 10 percent of the votes cast for governor during the last election, according to Utah State code. After the petitions are filed, Herbert's office will decide whether or not it can be added to the next ballot in 2008 or warrants a special session.

"The clock is definitely ticking," said Rusk.

The group already has a Web site, utahnsforpublicschools.org, with information about the group, "myths and facts" about vouchers, and contact information. They plan to add more information about signing petitions soon.

"We know it's a lot of signatures, but we also know it's doable," said Carmen Snow, the Utah PTA president.

The Utah PTA alone has more than 136,000 members, according to Snow.

If the group gets the needed signatures, plans for vouchers will be put on hold for at least two years, but Peterson believes the state support for vouchers is out there -- based on a survey from January, where 56 percent of Utahns supported choice in education.

"That will be tragic for those parents who are watching their children fall through the cracks and their future go down the drain," said Peterson. "You don't get a second chance with kids' futures."

Some of the faults the act has, according to Utahns for Public Schools, include: 96 percent of students in Utah attend public schools, making the vouchers a benefit to those already using private schools; the cost would eventually equal hundreds of millions of dollars that could be spent to help fund research-based projects such as all-day kindergarten, up-to-date books and equipment; they also believe the vouchers have not shown evidence of improving student achievement.

"The reason I'm so concerned it there's no accountability. They can do anything once the schools have that money, whereas we have so many mandates," said Snow.

For the time being, Parents for Choice in Education will continue to educate the public about the facts and wait, Peterson said. The group believes vouchers will increase parent involvement and satisfaction with education, increase competition among public schools to provide students with a higher quality education, and accountability will be regulated through consumer choice. Students will still be tested with national standards.

More information about Parents for Choice in Education can be found at choiceineducation.org.

Brooke Barker is available at 344-2559 or bbarker@heraldextra.com.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.