Utah voters resoundingly defeat school voucher ballot issue

The voucher measure was rejected by about 62 percent of voters.  

Had the measure passed, it would have created the nation’s first voucher program without income limits or provisions restricting the vouchers to students who attend poorly performing public schools.  

NSBA lauded the people of Utah for rejecting vouchers. “Once again, voters have seen through the false promises and recognized the negative repercussions of vouchers and stood squarely in support of public schools and students,” said NSBA Executive Director Anne L. Bryant.

The Utah measure was the first voucher vote in the United States since 2000 when voucher issues were defeated in Michigan and California. In recent decades, voucher measures were on the ballot in 11 states and all of them were rejected.

“It is encouraging to see that, despite rhetoric and propaganda, voters are still rejecting vouchers,” Bryant said. “Voters will know a bad idea when they see it. No matter the state, no matter the specifics of the plan, school vouchers remain an unpopular and unproven policy.”

Legislation to create the voucher program was approved by the Republican-controlled legislature in February by a single vote.

The program was never implemented because of confusion over the way it was enacted, and voucher opponents began a petition drive to put the issue before the voters. The state Supreme Court ruled in favor of voucher opponents last spring, clarifying that if voters reject vouchers, the legislation cannot be implemented.

The voucher initiative was supported by a number of business and conservative groups, with extensive financial support from Patrick Byrne, the CEO of Overstock.com.

The antivoucher petition drive was organized by a coalition of groups known as Utahns for Public Schools. The Utah School Boards Association was a part of that coalition, along with the National Education Association and its state affiliate, the PTA, and the NAACP.

Utahns for Public Schools’ main argument against vouchers is that they would divert money from public schools. The group also noted that the voucher law is “fundamentally flawed” because it lacked accountability. There would have been no oversight and no requirement that private schools be accredited.

In addition, the maximum voucher amount, $3,000, wouldn’t have been much help to poor families in a state where the average private school tuition is nearly $8,000 a year.

The voucher program would have cost taxpayers an estimated $430 million during its 13-year phase in.

It was expected that 5,400 students would have used vouchers the first year, and about 25,000 would participate when the program was fully operational.

According to the Deseret Morning News, voucher supporters spent about $4 million, much of it contributed by Byrne, and opponents spent about $3.5 million, mostly raised by the teacher unions.

Following the defeat of the Utah voucher proposal, Byrne told the Associated Press he would bring his voucher campaign to South Carolina.