Rep. Urquhart is calling for poor familles to have a choice to send their children to private schools. He is urging us to focus on the voucher proposal math. OK, each student would receive a $3,000 voucher to use to go to a private school. However, it costs more than $5,000 to attend a Utah public school, so the student is already $2,000 shy of being able to go to a public school, and is also no longer eligible for a free or reduced lunch and in many cases free transportation. Remember the typical private school in Utah charges about $8,000. So the student is actually $5,000 shy of being able to afford a private school. Thus, we can safely conclude that the number of poor families who will opt to use these vouchers will be extremely small or almost nil.On the other hand, if I earn over $100,000 it will be nice to have the state kick in $500 to help pay for a private school. Now that is what "school choice" is really all about.
Don L. Miller
St. George, UT 84770
1 comment:
Thank you, Don. Not to mention -- we don't have any private schools in Cedar City. Well there is one private school, but it's more of a boarding school for youths who are in some kind of treatment - not really a place for the locals to go. And even if it were more open to local students, the tuition is $4,950 per MONTH. On my husband's $39,000 per year state salary, that is pretty much out of our league.
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