Because they are inevitable, it was disingenuous of The Tribune to chastise Reps. Jim Ferrin and Mike Morley, and former Rep. Glenn Way, for "profiting" from charter schools while ignoring the same conflicts other legislators face.
Among current legislators, Rep. Sheryl Allen offers an even clearer example of profiting from public education. As director of the Davis School District Foundation, she "raises resources to supplement tax dollars to enhance the quality of education in Davis County Schools," which she then uses for "capital facility's [sic] construction."
It is tempting to distinguish Rep. Allen's work for the foundation from that performed by Reps. Ferrin and Morley for charter schools. But using donated funds to build and finance facilities at a profit is no more distasteful than using invested funds.
It's also easy to forget that Rep. Allen isn't volunteering her time for the foundation. She's getting paid. Put another way, she's making a profit.
On a more fundamental level, though, The Tribune's criticisms about private companies making a profit when they build or lease facilities for public education are absurd. Every public school is built by a private company. A construction company may specialize in schools because they have an affinity for public education, but that affinity isn't so strong that they volunteer their time and materials. They make a profit.
Similarly, the State Office of Education leases its building from the Boyer Company, in much the same way many charter schools lease their buildings from U.S. Charter Corporation. If Kem Gardner or Roger Boyer were elected to the Legislature, no one would question the propriety of the state office continuing that lease.
Nor should they. Legislative rules properly require legislators to disclose potential conflicts of interest prior to voting on an item relating to that conflict. And while Gene Roddenberry's idealized "Star Trek" civilization survived without profits, in this world, neither public education, nor any other enterprise, can succeed without someone earning a profit.
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M. Royce Van Tassell is executive director of Education Excellence Utah, a group promoting vouchers and tuition tax credits.
