Guest opinion

Last winter, the Utah Legislature passed the most broad-reaching voucher law in the nation. The action was puzzling because most Utahns don't support vouchers. Believing that vouchers are wrong for our state, Utahns for Public Schools, a coalition of education stakeholders, gathered more than 120,000 signatures to put the voucher bill in the hands of the people on Nov. 6.

There are three reasons to vote against Referendum 1 (the ballot measure that would implement the voucher program): The law is fundamentally flawed; it won't help most families, and the true solution to improving public schools is to invest in them.

The fundamental flaws include a lack of accountability. One problem is that the measure provides no significant oversight of schools accepting scholarship students. Private schools are not required to follow the same financial reporting rules that public schools must. Private schools are not required to be accredited like public schools or hire teachers who are appropriately licensed. Private voucher schools can hire teachers who not only do not have a license, but also do not have a college degree.

In addition, public schools have to meet state coursework and attendance standards that private schools do not. Even the testing requirements for the private schools are different from those for public schools. Yet, under the voucher law, they would receive public funding.

Second, vouchers won't help the majority of Utah families. The voucher ranges from $500 to $3,000 per child, but the average cost of tuition is $8,000 per child, according to a Utah State University study. Even with a voucher, most Utah families, especially the families the law allegedly intends to help, won't be able to afford the difference.

In addition, the voucher doesn't provide for the cost of transportation, uniforms and other fees.

Another concern is access. There is no guarantee that any parent who wishes to send a child to a private school will be able to do so. More than half of the counties in Utah do not have a private school, so parents would have no realistic chance to send their child to one.

Additionally, it is the school that decides whether to accept a voucher student or not. They do not have to provide reasons for not accepting a child. Already, some private schools have announced they will not accept voucher students.

Finally, the real answer is that Utahns need to invest in their own public schools. Instead of giving taxpayer dollars to unaccountable voucher schools, we should be spending more on our public schools.

The Utah Foundation announced once again that Utah's public schools receive the lowest per student funding in the nation. In order to reach the national average, the Utah Legislature would need to invest an additional $1.4 billion in public schools rather than the nearly half billion for private schools under that law.

Since 96 percent of Utah's children attend public schools, residents should invest money on reducing class size, buying textbooks and supplies, and enhancing teachers' salaries to make schools better.

Voucher supporters would have you believe that the best way to meet the needs of a changing society and its children is to fund a parallel system of schools, a private system. In reality, Utah's parents have more choices than ever before for their children in the public school system.

Now is not the time to fund another system but rather to adequately fund the public system we have. The bill that passed the 2007 Legislature is a flawed law that has too many loopholes and unanswered questions. The better answer is to vote against Referendum 1 and work to support public schools where all students are welcome.

¢ Marilyn Kofford of Alpine is a member of Utahns for Public Schools.