Voucher Recap

Although I came across as being in full support of vouchers in my previous posts, I have struggled with my decision to either vote for or against Referendum 1. Everybody that commented on the previous posts, made valid points one way or another and caused me to look closely at my position. Because this issue will finally come down to a vote a week from tomorrow I thought that it would be appropriate to read through the full text of House Bill 148 (referendum 1).

The information for this post was taken from an extremely handy website administrated by Lieutenant Governor Gary Herbert's office. This website includes links to:

• Arguments for/against Citizen's State Referendum 1 (here)
• Impartial Analysis - prepared by the Office of Legislative Research and General Counsel (here)
• Full text of House Bill 148 (here)

Before you read any of the above information, forget everything that you've heard in the ads supporting or against vouchers because they are trash and they do not give you the full story. I found the Impartial Analysis and the full text of the bill helpful. A few key points from the bill that I found interesting were:

• The money to pay for the scholarships is taken directly from the General Fund.
• The credentials of teachers at the private schools must be disclosed (116).
  
• If a private school teacher doesn't have a college degree, they must "have special skills, knowledge, or expertise that qualifies them to provide instruction in the subjects taught (156)."
• The private school must enroll more than 40 students to be eligible to accept vouchers (184).
• "The Legislature shall actually appropriate money to the board for the General Fund to make scholarship payments for all students projected to apply for scholarships (203)."
• Once the money allocated by the Legislature has been used up for that year, then no more scholarships will be awarded. If more people apply than there is money for, then the scholarships will be given by random selection.

Like I've said before, there are interesting arguments on both sides of this issue. For everybody out there that will have an opportunity to vote on referendum 1, please educate yourself on the issue (by reading the bill or the impartial analysis) and by then voting the way that you feel most closely adheres to your values and desires. I'm still weighing my options...