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Attack on Public Schools

Despite strong public opposition to private school vouchers, the Utah legislature passed a badly flawed education voucher law, HB 148, by a one-vote majority. The bill was quickly passed by the Senate and signed by the Governor with little opportunity for public input. Recognizing some of the glaring flaws in the voucher program, the legislature attempted to fix the badly flawed law with a second one, HB 174. But this attempt was unsuccessful. The new voucher law, predicted to cost taxpayers more than $429 million in the next 12 years, still contains significant loopholes, little accountability, and few academic or safety standards to protect children and families.

Many public school supporters questioned why we should divert hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to unaccountable voucher schools when we should be investing more into the public schools that 96% of our children attend.

In response to the flawed voucher law, public school supporters and Utah's leading education voices joined together under the banner of Utahns for Public Schools to let voters choose between investing more in their own public schools and funding unaccountable private schools.

The Petition Drive

The Utah State Constitution provides an opportunity for citizens to override legislation that doesn't serve the best interests of Utahns. If a citizen group collects enough signatures in the allotted period of time, the legislation can be "referred" to the people, meaning that it will not take effect unless approved by a majority vote. At the end of the 2007 legislative session, public school supporters decided to seek a referendum on HB 148 — the flawed private school voucher law.

On March 1, 2007, Utahns for Public Schools began the petition process required to put the voucher proposal on the ballot. In a truly historic effort, hundreds of volunteers in counties across Utah mobilized to tell their friends and neighbors about this important issue and to gather signatures for the referendum petition. On the April 12 deadline, Utahns for Public Schools submitted boxes of petition packets to County Clerks across the state.

"This is an unprecedented outpouring of support for public education," Pat Rusk, a fourth grade teacher, told reporters. "When we began, the experts told us we would never be successful in an all volunteer effort. Sometimes the experts are wrong."

Utah PTA President Carmen Snow echoed the sentiment, saying, "In all my years, I have seen nothing to match the passion and energy that parents brought to this signature drive. We have had people who have never been involved in this type of process before. Their combined efforts have truly made a difference. For me, it was inspiring."

County Clerks verified signatures and submitted the petitions to Lt. Governor Gary Herbert's office for certification. On April 30th, the Lt. Governor declared the signatures sufficient and certified the petition.

Utah referendum law requires petitioners to gather signatures equal to 10% of the number of people who voted in the last gubernatorial election, in this case a total of about 92,000 signatures. With 124,218 certified signatures, Utahns for Public Schools exceeded that number by a good margin. In addition to the overall total, the referendum law also requires petitioners to meet the 10% threshold in 15 of Utah's 29 counties. Again, public school supporters exceeded both requirements and expectations, qualifying in 25 counties. In the words of the Lt. Governor's spokesman, "[Utahns for Public Schools] had an unrivaled and impressive showing. It was a very successful campaign. It's been 33 years since a referendum has made it this far."

Governor Huntsman set a November 6, 2007, date for the special election, and HB 148 was suspended.

The Will of the People Prevails

Some pro-voucher politicians, undoubtedly frustrated by the successful petition drive, tried to force implementation of the voucher program. They called on the Utah State Board of Education to implement the program based solely on the provisions contained in the amendment bill. Bill sponsors and a voucher lobbying group filed a lawsuit and asked the Supreme Court to throw out the entire referendum election. House Speaker Greg Curtis asked for a special session of the legislature in which the binding vote of the people would be turned into a mere public opinion poll, which lawmakers would then be free to ignore.

In a clear victory for public schools, the Supreme Court of the State of Utah settled all these questions. On June 8, the court unanimously ruled that HB 174, as an amendment bill, was dependent on HB 148 and could not stand alone. As a result, the referendum vote in November will determine the fate of the entire voucher program.

Court documents
Voucher timeline

High Court Rules Up or Down Vote on Vouchers in November
Deseret Morning News, 06/08/2007

Fall Election Will Be Up-or-Down Vote on Vouchers, Court Says
KSL-TV, 06/08/2007

School Voucher Issue Will be Decided by Voters
KUTV, 06/08/2007

Utah Supreme Court: Voters Should Decide Voucher Fate
ABC 4, 06/08/2007