Utahns for Public Schools has just 19 days left to collect the 92,000 signatures needed to put the law scheduled to take effect this fall on hold until the public votes it up or down.
The well-organized group - made up of Utah branches of the nation's largest teachers' union, employee and administrator associations, the PTA and the NAACP - has barely started getting filled petitions back, representatives said. But early counts suggest they have at least 32,000 valid signatures so far, and they're encouraged.
"It's really going good," Utah PTA spokeswoman Carmen Snow said. "One gal came and got a petition and had it filled before her car wash was finished."
The group has until April 9 to collect signatures representing 10 percent of registered voters from at least 15 counties. If it succeeds, Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. will decide when to place a referendum on an election ballot.
Petition booklets, which contain 20 signature lines each, started circulating around March 8 and were still going out this week, volunteers said. The group estimates about 15,000 booklets are circulating with the help of thousands of volunteers.
As filled booklets return to groups such as the PTA, volunteers are trying to verify signatures - the law counts only those belonging to registered voters - before giving counts to Utahns for Public Schools, so the group doesn't have a firm signature estimate yet, said Pat Rusk, a spokeswoman for the group and former Utah Education Association president.
"That's the problem with something that truly is grass roots," she said. "Once they get some hard numbers they may even put them on the Web site but I don't think they're anywhere near that yet."
The UEA and PTA estimate they have roughly 20,000 signatures apiece so far, with about 80 percent from verified registered voters.
Off-duty teachers and citizen volunteers have taken petitions through neighborhoods and PTA presidents have set up signing tables during parent-teacher conferences in several districts.
Voucher supporters have objected to some of the petition tactics but haven't filed a legal challenge, said Nancy Pomeroy, a spokeswoman for the pro-voucher Parents for Choice in Education.
"We've had complaints from parents who had [pro]-petition fliers sent home in their children's bookbags," she said. The group has responded by alerting school district attorneys and supplying its own volunteers and fliers urging people not to sign the petition.
"We're not manic or panicked," Pomeroy said, "We're just getting our message out there."
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* NICOLE STRICKER can be contacted at nstricker@sltrib.com or 801-257-8999.
* Utah lawmakers enacted the nation's broadest school voucher program this year. It lets all parents of public school children, regardless of income, use some public funds for private school tuition. Barring a referendum or legal challenge, it will go into effect this fall.
* Supporters of the law say it gives parents more school choices, and could improve public schools by easing crowding and bolstering competition for students.
* Opponents of vouchers object to letting parents spend public money on private schools that enjoy less oversight and can choose students based on religion or academics.
* Attorneys on both sides of the issue are split on whether a second law amending the voucher plan would enable the program to proceed regardless of the referendum outcome.
For more information about school vouchers and the referendum drive, visit www.choiceineducation.org and www.utahnsforpublicschools.org.
