St. George Spectrum

Avoid Tax Hike by Voting in Favor of Referendum 1

October 3, 2007

Mike Jerman

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071003/OPINION/710030314/1014/OPINION

We, Utah taxpayers, are in danger of having our taxes raised to pay for an education crisis. To provide our children with the excellent education they deserve, we are going to have to make a change. Already we have the largest class sizes in the nation and the lowest per student funding, even though we allocate 55 percent of our property taxes and a majority of our income tax to public education. Utah also has the highest-in-the-nation ratio of children to taxpayers. We simply have a lot of students in our schools compared to the number of taxpayers who pay for their education, and we will soon have a lot more new students. At the same time, Utahns already bear one of the highest state/local tax and fee burdens in the nation.

The Utah State Office of Education projects that more than 150,000 new students will enter Utah's public schools within the next ten years. That's nearly a 30 percent increase in students! We are facing massive income and property tax hikes to pay for this tidal wave of new students. Fortunately, Utah's Parents Choice Voucher Program can ease the burden of this coming enrollment. It is on the ballot this Nov. 6 as Referendum 1.

Here's how it works. It costs more than $7,500 to educate students in public schools. The average cost to educate that same student with a voucher is under $2,000. Taxpayers will save more than $5,500 per student that transfers from public schools to private schools. Contrary to claims by voucher opponents, these savings are real since Utah's growing enrollment negates any concerns about so-called "fixed" costs. Schools benefit immediately from the departure of students by having smaller class sizes.
Voucher opponents often talk about how vouchers will "cost at least $429 million over 13 years." However, opponents do not mention that the projected voucher costs are less than 1 percent of what taxpayers will be spending on education during that time. More importantly, voucher opponents are not including the savings generated when thousands of students switch to private schools at a cost that is lower than educating those students more expensively in public schools. The rapid growth in charter school enrollment demonstrates that parental demand for education alternatives is high, and vouchers provide parents the financial means to transfer their students to private schools.

Voucher opponents know the only way to handle the 30 percent increase in students will be with massive income and property tax increases. The same groups that oppose vouchers also want higher taxes. Since vouchers increase per student spending without raising taxes, a vote for Referendum 1 makes sense for all taxpayers, including those whose children have already graduated. We owe it to our children and to ourselves as taxpayers to make this change.

Mike Jerman is a Utah businessman and former vice president of the Utah Taxpayers Association.