I went to public schools in Utah - kindergarten through college. Crammed into trailer/classrooms with the rest of the kids. Idolized teachers like Mrs. Warner and Mrs. Kreutzer, Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Milne - women who managed to keep 30-plus students focused on everything from phonics to Pride and Prejudice to writing in journalism's "inverted pyramid."

And I learned how to read and everything.

So maybe I don't fully understand this school "choice" movement. I can't comprehend why my tax dollars should help someone else pay tuition at Carden Memorial.

Seems to me there's a better solution to Utah's looming education funding crisis.

I acknowledge I'm biased. Both of my parents are public schoolteachers. Poking pickled fetal pigs and sharks lured me to dad's A.P. Biology classroom after school. My mom would nod off on the couch each night surrounded by a pile of corrected papers. I watched as they struggled to raise six children on first one, and then two, Utah teachers' salaries. After 14 years of working, I make more money than my mother, a 23-year veteran of public schools in California and Utah, and more than my now-retired father ever made.

There's something wrong with that.

Grasping for a quick fix to Utah's dismal teacher salaries, teacher shortages and popping-at-the-seams classrooms, lawmakers and the governor resorted to the conservatives' favorite fallback - the mythic private sector. They figured competition somehow would solve a numbers problem: Too many children and too little money.

Savvy politicians, they tried to offset their votes for the broadest publicly subsidized school voucher program in the country with unusually generous funding for teacher bonuses, computers and class-size reduction. But it wasn't enough. It never is. Utah still wins the race to the bottom in per-pupil spending (we'll find out later this year if we're below Mississippi - again).

I would sign the voucher referendum petition, but The Tribune's ethics rules won't allow it.

Others don't have that problem. With an April 9 deadline looming and 92

,000 signatures required to second-guess lawmakers' decision, thousands of Utahns have signed. Former legislator and PTA president Trisha Beck hasn't had to do much convincing as she takes her shift standing outside the Sandy Library with petitions. She offers a two-fer: Voters can challenge the voucher bill, the $35 million donation to Real Salt Lake or both.

"People are very upset," said Beck.

"Free-market" voucher lovers and politicians are rattled by this populist movement - and trying to quash it:

Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert and his staff did everything but a criminal background check on Utahns for Public Schools members. No doubt, they will attempt to disqualify the signatures they gather.

State Sen. Curt Bramble crowed that the private school handout would go forward even if voters reject the program - a breathtaking pledge to ignore the public's will.

After complaining that "out-of-state" money from the "liberal teachers union" would fund the petition drive, Parents for Choice lobbyists put their money from the Amway and Wal-Mart heirs to good use and started airing warm-and-fuzzy television commercials featuring pictures of schoolchildren with Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.

As for the governor, he's thrilled by the wonders of American democracy. Huntsman said he would schedule a $3.5 million special election in June. That calendar virtually guarantees a referendum will fail as voters go on vacation or stay home to protest the price tag.

And then Attorney General Mark Shurtleff chimed in with a legal opinion last week that muddied the waters further.

Voters should not be discouraged. Putting the question on the ballot simply will allow everyday Utahns to make a statement once and for all about funding private schools with public money.

Let lawmakers and the governor figure out a way to fix the mess they've made later.

walsh@sltrib.com