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This was supposed to be the year the Legislature would pass a "school choice" bill giving state money to families with children in private schools.

Last year's tuition tax credit bill failed by only four votes, and this year two Republicans who voted against it are leading the charge for a similar proposal: state-funded vouchers to defray private school costs.

Prospects for the bill's passage looked good - at least until the ground shifted Thursday when Florida's Supreme Court struck down the voucher law that made Florida a leader in school choice.

The court ruled Florida's voucher law violated the state's constitutional requirement for a "uniform" school system. Utah's constitution is worded differently, but contains sticking points for voucher legislation because it prohibits direct state funding of religious instruction.

There is little case law in Utah regarding issues that could affect school choice legislation, making it hard to predict whether a voucher law could survive a legal challenge. Rep. Brad Dee, the Washington Terrace Republican co-sponsoring Utah's voucher bill, said the Florida decision has not dissuaded him, but it has increased attention to making sure the bill can pass "constitutional muster."

Royce Van Tassel of Parents for Choice in Education believes vouchers will hold up in Utah's courts.

This is the sixth consecutive year Utah lawmakers have considered bills to shunt state money to families patronizing private schools. With the exception of last year's Carson Smith Law, which provides scholarships to private schools for students with disabilities, none has passed. But school choice legislation has been gaining converts among legislators, though evidence is scant that Utahns want their tax money spent on private education.

Dee is pitching a compromise bill co-sponsored by Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, that is designed to make state-funded private education more palatable to opponents. Dee believes eventual passage of school voucher legislation could be inevitable. He wants his new bill to address concerns that have made school choice such a polarizing issue.

"I'd rather craft a bill that guarantees that if and when it does pass, we have parameters that protect education."

Dee's bill proposes a voucher system that would give money for private schooling directly to families, instead of the tuition tax credit called for in last year's version. His plan keeps the program's costs or savings at the district level instead of returning any leftover funds to a general pot. The dollar amount of the vouchers will be indexed to income levels of those applying: lower-income families could receive up to approximately $3,500 per child enrolled in private school, while wealthier families would receive no more than $500 per student.

Elite education: Dee said the income-based indexing keeps the new bill from providing a subsidy to the wealthy at the expense of the needy, a common criticism of programs to fund private education with public funds.

"Many states have tried to make this an elitist thing," Dee said. "I will never attach my name to a bill that does that. I want to make this available across the board, across the income spectrum. I'd like to see parents educated on how to use it regardless of income status, ethnicity or stature in the community."

In its first year, the voucher program proposed for Utah would apply only to students switching from public to private schools. Students who start their educations in private school would be phased into the program gradually over the next 12 years. At that time, any student in private school would be eligible for a voucher.

Savings or loss: Backers say school districts will profit from the program. The state provides approximately $3,800 in funding per student each year, and the bill requires that money left over after vouchers are paid out must remain in the districts where students were enrolled in public school. Dee said he wants the state education system to be held harmless, and wants the leftover money used to improve teacher pay. But some say there won't be any leftovers.

The Utah Education Association asserts that large numbers of students - at least 15,000 - would have to leave the public system before a break-even point is reached because of fixed costs for providing public school facilities.

Rep. Carol Spackman Moss, D-Holladay, is a teacher. She voted against previous versions of the bill, and says she fears the latest one won't provide the benefits it promises.

"It's all speculative; nobody knows for sure," Moss said. "When you make changes in the tax system, those aren't easy fixes. I just think it's too big of a gamble."

Moss points to last year's Carson Smith Law as an example. Despite promises that the law's enactment would not pull money from special education budgets for public schools, the state's special education budget was left $900,000 short when fewer families applied for the scholarships than anticipated. Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.'s budget proposal for 2006 calls for those funds to be restored.

More choices: Utah kids already have school choice, Moss said. The state's open enrollment policy means any student can attend any public school that has room, regardless of place of residence. Charter schools provide further options, and parents who prefer private schools have the option of paying for them.

Moss says constituents tell her they want their tax dollars to support strong public schools in their neighborhoods - schools with advanced placement and honors classes, orchestras, sports teams and broad curriculum offerings. She said the only contacts she has received regarding private school tuition reimbursement were from a wealthy Olympus Cove resident and a private school administrator.

"The constituents are not sick of public schools," Moss said.

But Dee says it is important that parents have choice, whether they choose to exercise it or not.

"I'm not sure the numbers are out there of people who really want to send students to private school," Dee said. "They want the right and the ability, the parent choice, but they don't anticipate really doing it. We support this parental choice because we want this ability to choose."

Party line: That philosophy lines up squarely with the national Republican platform, which "supports the efforts of parents who choose faith-based and other nonpublic school options for their children" and says school choice creates competition, thereby creating quality.

Utah has fewer students enrolled in private schools than any state except Wyoming. One reason could be Utah's "released time" program, which meets the demand for religious education in many families. Released time allows public school students in grades nine through 12 to receive religious instruction for one period of each school day at privately owned buildings adjacent to public schools. Though the majority of students using the released time option attend LDS seminaries, a number of other faiths participate in the program.

Many questions about school vouchers remain. Dee acknowledges concerns that star students could desert their schools, taking "empowered parents" with them and fraying the fabric of public schools. And he's still looking at ways to ensure public funds aren't used to promote private agendas offensive to taxpayers who will foot the bill.

Choice and accountability: Fiscal and academic accountability for schools receiving tax dollars is another hot button in the discussion. Dee says his bill will require nationally normed testing of private school students accepting vouchers. Patrick Ogden, associate state schools superintendant, says any new law must provide for fair comparisons.

"Is the nationally normed test the same as the state's?" Ogden asks. "Or will it be the National Christian School norms?"

"We have to know tax dollars are spent in an efficient and effective manner," said Kim Burningham, chairman of the Utah Board of Education. "Do private schools want to submit to the scrutiny necessary to ascertain proper expenditure of tax dollars?"

Proponents of school choice think those issues can be worked out, but should they be?

"Why do we want to further alienate, balkanize and compartmentalize our children and our society by breaking up the great institution of public education?" Ogden asked.

Van Tassel asks an opposing question: "Do you believe in the ability of parents to choose, or do you need someone to watch over them and make sure they don't make egregious mistakes? Parents know more and care more about their children."

The private school landscape in Utah

l 97 percent of Utah students attend public schools; the rest attend private or home schools.

l The exact number of private schools in Utah is unknown, but 118 schools responded to a survey by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

l Of these, at least 48 identify themselves as religion-based, including Roman Catholic, 15; LDS, 3 (none are officially sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints); other Christian denominations, 29; and Islamic, 1.

l Private school tuition varies widely. One year of high school level courses at Waterford School, a nonsectarian school in Sandy, costs $15,000, plus hundreds more for books and fees. Some small schools connected with religious ministries charge as little as $1,850 per year for K-8 education. According to Parents for Choice in Education, the median tuition for K-8 private schools in Utah is about $3,600.

l Private schools set their own standards for admission. The admissions policy for Realms of Inquiry in Salt Lake City recommends an IQ of 120 or higher for admission. Anchor Christian Academy, an independent Baptist school in Holladay, accepts students of all academic levels but requires parents and students to assent to compliance with a handbook on doctrine, dress code and conduct.

Source: NCES