Provo Daily Herald

Arizona's Unions Joins Fight Against Vouchers

October 19, 2007

Brock Vergakis - THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/240803/

SALT LAKE CITY -- Arizona's largest teachers' union is joining the fight inside Utah to kill the nation's broadest school voucher program, asking volunteers to participate in a telephone tree and speak to Utah voters ahead of a Nov. 6 referendum.

Utah's Republican-controlled Legislature created a voucher program earlier this year that gives parents $500 to $3,000 per child, depending on income, to use on tuition at a private school. Unlike voucher programs in other states, even affluent families in well-performing districts qualify for the program.

But voucher opponents gathered enough signatures to suspend the program before any vouchers were issued. Critics say vouchers are poor policy when Utah is starving its public schools of money. Utah spends less per student than any other state and has the nation's largest class sizes.

Voucher proponents say the program gives parents, particularly the poor, a choice in which schools their children can attend. They also say it will reduce class sizes in public schools and leave more money to spend on remaining students, although research from the Office of Legislative Fiscal Analyst shows the program will cost at least $43 million more than it saves public schools year when the program is fully implemented.

Both sides have been pouring millions of dollars donated by out-of-state organizations into the debate. Each side believes that if the voucher program is upheld in Utah, it will quickly spread to other states.

"Should vouchers become successful policy and successfully implemented in Utah, I have no doubt that some other conservative elected officials, whose ultimate goal is not helping our current public schools to succeed, they will introduce vouchers on a broader scale here in Arizona," said John Wright, president of the Arizona Education Association. "We're helping Utah fight so we don't have to."

Teachers' unions in other states also are weighing in.

The Wyoming Education Association, Ohio Education Association and Maine Education Association have each donated $1,000 to fight Utah's voucher program, according to September financial disclosure reports. The Colorado Education Association donated $5,000.

The National Education Association has donated about $1.2 million. Utah Education Association President Kim Campbell said unions in still more states also have donated since the September reports were filed, but she couldn't immediately identify them.

"We've had a lot of people across the nation who send us messages of support and who have encouraged folks they know that if they know anyone in Utah to talk to them. This is a bad idea for all of the nation's schools. Everyone's watching to see what happens with the voucher law," she said.

The state's primary pro-voucher group, Parents for Choice in Education, says it's not surprised that donations from other states are pouring in and that teachers in Arizona are mobilizing to call Utah voters.

"We know that the main opponent of this referendum is the NEA, so we're not surprised they've had out-of-state help from the beginning. I think that this referendum is threatening to members of the national union and in teachers unions in other states," said spokeswoman Camden Hubbard. "It offers (parents) an alternative. It offers them an option to do something about those rare deficient public school teachers. Sadly, the unions are too often in favor of protecting the jobs of those teachers at the expense of students."

On the Net: • Utahns for Public Schools: http://www.utahnsforpublicschools.org/ • Parents for Choice in Education: http://www.choiceineducation.org/