St. George Spectrum Editorial

Vouchers are a start

November 2, 2007

http://www.thespectrum.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071102/OPINION01/71102004/1014/OPINION

There is little doubt - given the numerous television commercials, e-mail campaigns and newspaper stories - that most voters have heard of Referendum 1, which would institute a private-school vouchers program in Utah.

What is in doubt is what the voucher system would do to the public schools and how many families would actually benefit from such a plan.

We have both sides of the argument to blame for that fact. Teachers unions have pointed out that even with the maximum voucher amount of $3,000, many Utah families couldn’t afford to send their kids to private school. Voucher supporters point out that only a portion of the per-student amount spent in classrooms would be used for vouchers, but they fail to say what will happen to school funding after the five-year start-up period has passed.
In fact, both groups have combined to spend more than $7 million on this campaign in an attempt to put their spin in front of voters.

In concept, we agree with the vouchers program. Parents should have choices for their children. Sometimes, the smaller classrooms and different teaching styles benefit students who struggle to succeed in a public classroom with as many as 30 or more children. And, the reality is that these parents are paying property taxes despite the fact that their children aren’t using the resources.

With that said, vouchers will serve only as a Band-Aid for a system that ranks last in per-student spending in the nation. It appears that the Legislature has put all of its eggs in one basket by supporting vouchers, albeit by an extremely narrow vote. Only a multi-pronged approach will solve the funding problem.

By some projections, the voucher program eventually will cost Utah about $40 million more than the state would save by not having to pay for students who leave for private schools. Granted, that’s about 12 years down the road, but plans need to be put into motion now to avoid making a bad problem worse.

More approaches should be considered that, with vouchers, would provide more opportunities to solve the problem. Tax credits could be offered on a per-child basis for private school attendance. The credits would help parents offset the costs of private school tuition, and rules for receiving the credit could be set to ensure that the students start and finish the year in the private school.

Although an unpopular subject for some parents and educators, year-round schools also should be part of the discussion.

In many cases, multiple schools share facilities, which means fewer buildings are needed. This often is accompanied by a smaller demand for administrators, which helps with the day-to-day costs.

The goals are simple. We need more teachers. We need to pay our current educators better.

Above all, we want the best possible education for our children.

Vouchers will help start us down that path. But they are not the silver bullet that will fix the overall funding problem in Utah.