Tuesday, January 23, Utah House Republican leaders began a three-day flurry of arm-twisting of moderate Republican members. In some cases it has been mean spirited and may come back to haunt them.
Once again the issue is vouchers.
Rep. Steve Urquhart’s draft bill only began circulating Monday. Though little has changed from last year’s bills, we still must ask who’s reading the bill? It’s a complicated bill with a lot of ramifications. Will the vote reflect support of a new tax subsidized private school system or support of party leaders?
Lot’s of questions needed to be asked and answered.
First question: who gets a voucher? Which children and parents qualify? Next: Which schools and what constitutes a school? Following those questions we ask what motivations and what powers are driving this bill? There are more questions but back to the original question.
First, which parents and which teachers get vouchers? Our conclusion, only slightly over stated, would be any and all!!!
As we have read and reread the qualifying student criteria we find the bill requires only three things:
- a parent or guardian (possibly from any place in the world.) who can claim Utah residency by August 1, 2007, and who
- has a student who is age five by Sept. 1, 2007, but is under age 22 and has not graduated from high school and
- who also meets any one (emphasis- JUST ONE) of the following criteria:
(1) has a child/ student who was not (emphasis NOT) a resident on January 1, 2007, OR
(2) is a parent or guardian who has low income, i.e. has a child/student who qualifies for free or reduced price school lunch, OR
(3) has a student who is now (January 1, 2007) a Utah public student, OR
(4) has a child born after September 1, 2001 (hence eligible for kindergarten this year).
Bottom line: if you have a school age child and have or can establish residency in Utah by August 1 you’ll be voucher eligible. And if “anyone “ can what are the implications.
Voucher: Implications and Speculations
Assume the bill passes. Here are three scenarios: (Please read with caution. It is not our desire to denigrate any group or category of people, but pointed questions need to be asked).
Scenario #1 An illegal immigrant family with children gets word of Utah’s new law and decide to come. They strongly prefer their religion’s schools. They will need to get here, establish residency (that is easy) and then apply by July 1, 2007. (Actually the bill does not include a definition of resident) Estimated cost range of 3 to 12 million.
Scenario # 2 Hildale Utah. FLDS parents are checking logistics and financial advantages of the bill. They presently move 300 plus students to Colorado City regularly. They may have to shift legal guardian or parental claims to qualify for the larger scholarship amounts, but certainly most would qualify for the “$3000 scholarships.” Colorado City folks may want to make some changes too. Note: The polygamous communities throughout Utah, both formal and informal, gave strong support to pro voucher candidates Nov. 7, 2007. Estimated cost: 3 million minimum and 36 million in five years.
Scenario # 3 Are vouchers right for home schooled students? Some are not interested because “government control inevitably comes.” Many are satisfied with where they are and where they are going. But surely, many are in the base support for vouchers. Some existing home school co-ops can tweak the current structure and others will be created to qualify their children for a voucher and their parent teachers for compensation. Estimated cost: 5 to 15 million.
Interesting to note: if Rep. Urguhart’s bill HB ---- is passed no other state or community will have a voucher program so broad in scope and in funding of private schools, while we remain last in funding our “common schools.”
Submitted by Parents for Public Education
4 comments:
With the tactics the voucher liberal fanactivists are willing to employ, I have to wonder if it's more of a political agenda and vendetta than anything else.
I appreciate the dialogue on the issue; however, your reading of the bill is considerably off. I've discussed the particulars over at www.steveu.com.
Vouchers are not a bad thing.
I find great irony in the fact that all of my liberal friends who sent their kids to private schools are supporting vouchers.
Vouchers will actually save schools money and make them more competitive by giving parents a greater choice as to where to send their children; what is wrong with that.
Vouchers have had great success in the northeast where parents in inner city neighborhoods have used vouchers to enroll their children in the schools of middle class and upper middle class neighborhoods, forcing the schools in the inner city to either improve or close. This is a great example of the free market at work.
Freedom for parents, freedom for children. Freedom from UEA and the teacher unions.
Thank you Utah legislature.
I find it ironic that you and others are trying to paint this as a Liberal vs. Conservative issue. This is just another lie that is being perpetuated by voucher advocates in their attempt to utilize the Utah Republican Party as their key to ramming this issue through the Utah Legislature.
This is also why they want to make school board races partisan. So they can fool Utahns who see themselves as Republicans into thinking that their way is the only way because it's the Republican way.
This is not a liberal or conservative issue. This is an issue that concerns us all and one that should remain non-partisan.
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