ABC 4 News - Salt Lake City

Parent claims teacher solicited anti-voucher donation during conference

September 24, 2007

URL: http://www.abc4.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=fa5084ec-90ce-4ee9-908e-9bd0e7a0221a

Chris Vanocur

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - Is the political battle over school vouchers in Utah starting to interfere with your child's education?

Well, that's what one Utah parent is wondering after - according to her - she was asked for an anti-voucher contribution during a recent parent teacher conference.

On November 6th, Utah voters will be asked to vote for or against a new voucher plan.

That plan would provide up to 3 thousand dollars of state money for parents who want to send children to private school.

But now one parent claims those against Referendum One may be crossing a line.

Here’s what she says happened when she went to a parent teacher conference last week.

The parent claims, "We went through about ten minutes of the conference and then she handed me an envelope and asked me if I was interested in donating money to the fund against the voucher system."

The parent also says she was stunned when asked to contribute money during the parent teacher conference and then when she refused, says a heated exchange took place.

"When I said no I'm not interested, I support the vouchers, she continued to go on and tell me why I was wrong," says the parent.

The State Board of Education has made it clear that fund-raising while on duty is not allowed.

And the anti-voucher group, Utahns for Public Schools, emailed ABC 4 this response:

"Our campaign does not comment on anonymous reports. However, it is interesting to note that the claims of this anonymous source would never see the light of day in an unaccountable private voucher school because they aren't held to the same high standards as public schools."

As for the Salt Lake School district and the UEA, they say a teacher at the school was fanning herself with the anti-voucher materials during a parent teacher conference, and when a parent asked what they were, the district and the UEA claim the teacher then jokingly asked for a contribution.

And after we learned of their comments, ABC 4 checked back with the parent who made the original claim.

She stands by her story.