Provo Daily Herald

Vouchers Debated at UVSC

October 4, 2007

http://www.heraldextra.com/content/view/239337/

The voucher fire needs very little fuel to keep it going, but nevertheless, more than a hundred people gathered Wednesday night to hear the issue debated.

The voucher topic was a no-brainer for this month's ethics forum at UVSC, as similar debates have taken place many times in the past week. Patrick Byrne, chairman of the board and CEO of Overstock.com; Marilyn Kofford, former Utah State PTA Education Commissioner; Paul Mero, president of the Sutherland Institute; and Kim Burningham, chairman of the State Board of Education all took part in the debate.

Ever since House Bill 148 and its amendment, House Bill 174, were passed earlier in the year, supporters and opponents of the bill have fiercely defended their sides.

"I believe education is the No. 1 domestic issue in the United States," said Byrne. "It really has human capital."

Byrne defended vouchers, saying one of the problems with the education system today is the United States has let itself slide in world standings.

When Byrne's generation was in school, he said, the United States had excellent education compared to other countries because the rest of the world was destroyed by World War II. That isn't the case anymore, he said, and children in countries around the world are passing the United States in performance.

Byrne said vouchers will help Utah schools because of the approximately $7,800 allotted per student today, a student who takes $3,000 to a private school will leave the remainder in the public school system. Although the school loses a student, the per pupil spending for the rest of the students will increase, he said.

"It's better for kids who stay in the public schools, it's better for the kids that leave," Byrne said. "It's better for taxpayers, it's better for the schools themselves. There's one group that's worse off, and that's the unionized monopoly."

Burningham, however, contradicted Byrne, saying the per pupil amount of $7,800 was incorrect because it takes into account the students who cost the most. Special needs children receive more money, which can throw off the numbers, he said.

"Figures can be manipulated almost any way you want," Burningham said.

Vouchers are not beneficial to students, he said, because they do not help all children equally. The low-income children that the bill is meant to help still could not afford to go to private school.

Burningham gave the example of a family with three children and an income of $30,000 per year. The family could receive a total of $9,000 to send their children to private school, but they would still have to raise an additional $9,000 to carry the rest of the cost. "If I'm a low-income person, I can't possibly pay that," he said.

Sending children to a private school will not change a student's poor performance, said Kofford. There are already many school choices available, including magnet schools and charter schools, and every type of school can be great or a failure.

"A struggling student will be a struggling student, in a public school or a private school," she said. "As a parent you have to do all you can to help that struggling student."

Rather than allowing students to leave the school they are in with parents choosing where to place their children, Kofford said the current school system is worth saving. Money should not be sent elsewhere, but used to improve public schools to benefit all children.

"We need to support our public schools," she said. "We rank last in the nation in per-pupil spending. How long will our students be last?"

Paul Mero based his argument for vouchers on the minority students that need help in school. Only 19 percent of the students in Utah come from a minority background, and he said 43 percent of Hispanic seniors currently enrolled in school will not graduate.

In response to the idea that spending more money in public schools would help these same students, Mero said it is more important to give them and their parents a hand in their future. "More money is not what they need," he said. "What they need is a new opportunity."

The vouchers issue will be put before voters in the form of Referendum 1 in the Nov. 6 election. For more information on the referendum, visit elections.utah.gov.