Be prepared to learn as much as possible about school vouchers before the November election, because unless you hide under a rock you're going to be hearing a lot on both sides of the debate.

On Wednesday, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. issued an executive order that vouchers will be on the Nov. 6 ballot, even though waiting until the presidential primaries in Feb. 5 would have saved an estimated $3.5 million. The vouchers have met with opposition and a petition for a referendum on HB 148 filed by Utahns for Public Schools.

"This will allow the voters to voice their opinions as soon as logistically possible," Huntsman said. "I encourage all Utahns to study the issues and consider this referendum as part of municipal elections in November."

Utah's voucher program would have made $500-$3,000 vouchers available for students, based on income, for a private school education.

A salvo was fired Wednesday by the pro-voucher side in the form of a study that claims hundreds of millions of dollars have been saved nationwide by voucher programs.

The study, released by the Friedman Foundation, says that $422 million from individual public school district budgets and $22 million from state budgets have been saved since school choice programs -- including tax-credit scholarships and a variety of vouchers -- began in 1990 with the Milwaukee Vouchers.

"School choice saves. It saves children, and now we have empirical evidence that it saves money," said Robert Enlow, the executive director and COO of the Milton and Rose D. Friedman Foundation, in a statement released by the Sutherland Institute. "In the face of $444 million in savings, another excuse to deny children a quality education has vanished before our eyes."

The Sutherland Institute is a Utah-based conservative public policy think tank that considers itself a colleague with the Friedman Foundation in the school choice movement.

Katie Christensen, spokeswoman for the Sutherland Institute, said that while opponents of the vouchers in Utah claim the program will reduce spending in public schools, the study says otherwise. A copy of the study is available at www.friedmanfoundation.org.

The study comes on the heels of the state Board of Education recently pushing back the state's voucher program. In doing so they sought more legal advice as well as asked Huntsman to put the issue to a vote.

Some of the arguments put forward by anti-voucher groups include the fixed costs of schools not being accounted for and that those who will benefit most are those who will already go to private schools.

"We applaud the governor for taking leadership on this," said Lindsay Zizumbo, spokeswoman for Utahns for Public Schools.

Zizumbo said that she was "not comfortable using taxpayer dollars for something that is essentially an experiment."

The next bit of campaigning will be Tuesday, when the pro-voucher side hosts a Stand Up for Utah Kids School Choice Rally at the State Capitol in Salt Lake City from 1:30-2:30 p.m.

"Everyone is going to see the faces of those they are just so quick to dismiss," said Leah Barker, spokeswoman for Parents for Choice in Education, concerning those from all over the state who have made plans to attend the rally.

Brooke Barker is available at 344-2559 or bbarker@heraldextra.com. Reporter Nathan Johnson contributed to this report.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page A1.