SALT LAKE CITY
Utah voters on Tuesday killed the nation's first statewide school voucher program that promised tax dollars for private tuition, no matter how much a family earned or whether kids were in bad schools.
It was the first voucher election in the U.S. since 2000, when voters in Michigan and California rejected efforts to subsidize private schools.
Utah, with a conservative electorate, a Republican governor and GOP-controlled Legislature, was seen nationally as a key test of voter sentiment for vouchers. But opponents, with millions of dollars from a national teachers union, persuaded residents to say no.
With 95 percent of 2,237 precincts reporting, 62 percent of voters cast ballots against the program.
"The problem of voucher supporters is that they never really figured out what Utah voters would support in advance of passing legislation," said Brigham Young University political scientist Quin Monson.
"They never really anticipated it would go to the ballot," he said, adding that lawmakers were "shooting a little too high."
Pre-election public opinion polls indicate widespread opposition to vouchers, especially in rural areas where often there are no private schools for hundreds of miles.
Utah's referendum on vouchers was the first in the country since 2000, when voucher proposals were voted down in Michigan and California. There have been 10 state referendums on various voucher programs since 1972, according to the National School Boards Association. Each time vouchers or tuition tax credits were voted down by an average of 68.6 percent. California, Michigan and Colorado voters defeated voucher proposals twice.
Voucher critics argued the state shouldn't spend money on private schools when Utah has the nation's largest class sizes and spends less per student than any other state. Voucher proponents contended the program would reduce classes in public schools, give parents a choice which school their child goes to that's not dictated by where they can afford to live and improve public schools through competition.
