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Wednesday, March 14, 2007Waste
KSL Editorial:
"A lot of powerful interests want to overturn Utah's new school voucher law through a voter referendum. KSL views the effort as a waste of time, energy and means." "...divisive..." "...futile...."
posted by The Senate Site at 11:36 PM | Link
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5 Comments:
I really wonder if the UEA (and PTA, NAACP, etc) has clearly thought through this.
(1) They're directly challenging the Legislature's authority, potentially turning Utah's political process into California's, with its endless voter initiatives. Tons of money from outside Utah, from both sides. Not to mention potentially angering those who appropriate education funds.
(2) If UEA wins at the ballot box, how can they make any class size reduction argument with a straight face?
(3) What does it mean for their influence if they lose...will anyone take anything they say seriously? If they lose, will a new teacher's association that's willing to realistically work with the Legislature gain significantly greater influence? Voter endorsement of the voucher program at the ballot box will give the Legislature a mandate to expand the program and its funding, potentially a significant expansion.
Voucher proponents will have a full year and a half to educate the public on what vouchers really do (paid from General Fund, not Education Fund, mitigation money, etc.) and how they really affect school funding, which I think is most people's concern. They'll be on the same ballot as a highly popular Governor campaigning for the voucher program.
I just wonder how much of this is a knee-jerk reaction, without having thought through the long-term political ramifications.
KSL, Senate Site, and (cowardly) Anonymous,
It isn't special interest groups who are doing this. The people of Utah are directly challenging the legislature which ignored us over the past session. UEA, PTA, NAACP etc will fail if individual Utahns don't sign the petition. This effort reflects the will of the Utah’s citizens a lot better than the half a million dollars spent by out of state “parental choice groups” to grease Republicans in the legislature this past session.
I’m not a member of UEA, PTA, or NAACP but I’m going to help get signatures for the referendum petition because I’m a responsible tax payer who believes vouchers are an extra expense Utah doesn’t need. I’m also a parent of a child who is in one of Utah’s fine public schools. I couldn’t be happier with the results of her enrollment there. Subsidizing private schools with taxpayer money may be a good idea in areas where public schools are failing but it definitely isn’t a good idea here.
You Republicans are trying to waste too much taxpayer money on this ideological crusade. It is time for Utahns to reign you back in. Here’s hoping we succeed.
Jeremy's "extra expense" comments are interesting. There clearly are costs for the kids who would otherwise be in private school, but the big bill costs have to do with the generous benefits in the bill for school districts.
One of the key points of vouchers that is too often not directly addressed by opponents is that for every kid who is in the public school system and moves to a private school, there are large savings. These are not "extra expenses". These are expenses the taxpayers of the state are already incurring, to the tune of $5-6,000 per year per kid. The real expense comparison for kids in public schools is the full $5-6,000 bill currently paid to the public education system compared to the $500 - $3,000 for those who use the voucher.
Anonymous (what a lame way to post comments...at least use a pseudonym so you can be responded to clearly),
One of the key points that voucher crusaders often avoid is the fact that all their assumptions that vouchers will save taxpayer money depend on thousands of students switching from public schools to private. You're gambling that thousands of parents will go through the trouble of taking their kids out of Utah's successful and efficient public schools so they can pay a voucher and thousands more out of pocket to a private school for an education which will likely be no better than that which their child was previously receiving. As a Davis County parent who has done the research I can tell you that there isn't enough value added in our local private schools to justify switching and paying extra to educate my kid. Our public schools do a great job. We just don’t need public subsidies for private schools in Utah.
Jeremy – great thoughts. I like your comments, and I like how they sound, but need to clarify a small, but important detail.
You say, "The people of Utah are directly challenging...."
The people of Utah . . . have not yet spoken. Up to now, all we have by way of discerning the will of the people is through their elected representatives, or through several public opinion polls taken over time – all with varying results.
There’s a process. First, voucher opponents are going to try to get 91,996 living, breathing People of Utah to agree to put this referendum on the ballot. They will probably succeed. If that happens, voucher opponents will try to convince a majority of voters to strike down House Bill 143. We don't think fully educated Utahns are likely to vote that way.
But if they do, ONLY THEN can an individual represent that their personal viewpoint represents The Will of the People with a comfortable degree of credibility.
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