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School voucher legislation that embodies one of the most divisive issues lawmakers will consider this year gets its first public scrutiny by the House Education Committee today.
HB148, sponsored by Rep. Steve Urquhart, R-St. George, is the sole bill the committee will take up when it meets at 3 p.m.
House leaders have fast-tracked the bill, which a legislative fiscal analyst on Monday estimated would cost Utah taxpayers $5.4 million in 2008 and $8.8 million in 2009 if approved. The families of all public school children would be eligible for taxpayer-funded vouchers to help pay private school tuition under the bill.
Voucher amounts would range from $500 per child to $3,000 per child depending on family income.
The bill places no limit on how many families could use vouchers, so the analyst relied on several assumptions to estimate its cost.
Based on average family size and income, the average voucher could be roughly $2,000, said Johnathan Ball, the Legislative Fiscal Analyst Office's deputy director who prepared the fiscal note.
He used an economic model of affordability to estimate how many eligible families might switch to private schools.
If families don't claim all the appropriated voucher funds, the Utah State Board of Education could keep the money left over to spend as it sees fit.
The program's costs would likely increase each year as more children became eligible, Ball said, although private school capacity could stem growth.
School districts would forfeit the average voucher amount for each student they lose but would keep the rest of the money they normally would have gotten for that student.
Opponents of education vouchers don't want taxpayer dollars funneled to private schools, many of which are religious in nature. They also worry because private schools enjoy less academic and financial oversight than public schools. And stakeholders in public schools say voucher programs siphon money from already underfunded schools.
But supporters insist vouchers would improve public schools by relieving crowding and creating competition. They say districts will improve services and trim bureaucratic waste if faced with the prospect of losing students (and the funds that come with them) to private schools.
Public and legislative support for vouchers has been split and the voucher legislation has died in the Utah House for the past several years.
But House leaders believe they have the votes this time and have cleared the route to the House floor.
Urquhart is chairman of the Rules Committee, which wasted no time assigning it to the House Education Committee, chaired by voucher-supporter Rep. Gregory Hughes, R-Draper. House speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, also has voiced support.
of voucher bill HB148
* Eligible students: All current public school students and students in any type of school who qualify for reduced-price lunch.
* Eligible schools: Must employ college-educated or skilled teachers, operate outside a residence, enroll at least 40 students and not discriminate based on race, color or national origin. They must give parents the results of a standardized test once a year and submit to a financial audit once every four years.
* How it would work: Vouchers would range from $3,000 per child for families who qualify for reduced-price lunch ($37,000 annual income for a family of four) to $500 for families earning 250 percent more ($92,500 a year). Money would be transferred directly from the state Office of Education to the private school parents choose.
* Likely cost: $5.4 million in 2008, $8.8 million in 2009.
* HB148 will be discussed by the House Education Committee at 3 p.m. today at the Capitol's west office building Room W135.