The advertisement that I refer to is the anti-National Education Association commercial with reference to Nancy Pelosi and Ted Kennedy. I find this approach to promoting vouchers troubling for a number of reasons. The major reason is the negative campaigning technique it uses.
Utahns have never thought much of negative campaigning, and this is all the more offensive and misleading because it draws in Pelosi and Kennedy, who to my knowledge have not taken a position on this legislation or the referendum.
I would hope the advocates for vouchers would have an intellectual case to make, rather than appealing to emotion, but that is their choice.
At the same time, I take personal offense because of the advertisement's attack on the NEA, an organization to which I am proud to belong. I may not agree with every position of the NEA, just as I don't agree with every position of the Utah Legislature, but I have seen firsthand the work done by the NEA to improve public education. I also know firsthand that NEA operates in an open and democratic fashion.
NEA has worked with Utahns, including our elected representatives in Congress, to take on issues with the implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act. NEA agrees with Sens. Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett and others that the law goes too far in its top-down Washington, D.C.-based prescriptions.
More important, NEA is made up of Utah teachers and other professionals who care deeply about public education and the children they serve. If voucher advocates want to attack Utah teachers and education-support professionals, they ought to do it directly, and not bring in national politicians who have no stake in the outcome of the voucher referendum.
The Nov. 6 vote on State Referendum 1 is an important vote and one that should not be decided by 30-second sound bites and negative campaigning. The voters of Utah should evaluate the voucher law based upon what is on the ballot. They should evaluate it based upon independent analysis that can be found in the voter information guide.
We should be asking ourselves: Will this program help or hurt the majority of Utah students seeking an education? I am convinced that as voters study this issue and look past the advertising they will vote no on State Referendum 1.
It's a flawed policy that should be defeated by the voters of Utah. The costs of this program are too great to be borne by the children of our great state.
---
* REP. KORY HOLDAWAY is a Republican representing House District 34 in Taylorsville and West Valley City and a teacher at Taylorsville High School.
