In 2007, by one vote in the House of Representatives, the Utah Legislature passed the first statewide, universal voucher law in the country. Knowing that the public had consistently rejected the idea of vouchers to address the education needs of Utah students, Utahns for Public Schools felt that voters should have a say in whether this controversial experiment took effect. Through the remarkable efforts of volunteers across the state, UTPS gathered a sufficient number of signatures to "refer" the program to a vote of the people. The voucher proposal became "Referendum 1" on the November 2007 ballot and could not be implemented unless approved by voters.
From that point on, UTPS worked to educate voters about the problems with the flawed voucher law and why it was wrong for Utah. On November 6th, Utah voters soundly rejected Referendum 1 62% to 38%.
Read the KSL editorial opposing Referendum 1 here.
Read more about the campaign against Referendum 1 below.
State legislators have passed a voucher bill with too many loopholes, unanswered questions and next to no accountability for private voucher schools. Because there is no oversight, private schools are not required to be accredited and can hire teachers who don't hold a college degree or a state teaching license. Furthermore, private voucher schools don't have to meet the same coursework or attendance standards that public schools must meet.
96% of Utah's school age children attend public schools. Yet, Utah has failed to make the investments necessary to provide every child with a quality education. Today, Utah class sizes are the largest in the nation. Utah also ranks dead last in the nation in spending per student. Instead of spending hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars on private schools, we need to invest more in the public schools that teach the majority of our children.
For too many Utah families vouchers don't offer a real choice. More than half of Utah's counties have NO private schools at all. The average private school tuition is almost $8,000 a year. The average statewide voucher is estimated to be only about $2,000. That means that for a family with four children, the additional $24,000 in tuition puts private school completely out of reach.