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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- Months before a fall election, public aid for families sending kids to private schools is getting a thumbs-down.
A poll for KSL-TV-Deseret Morning News found 45 percent of residents said they were "very likely" to vote against vouchers and 12 percent were "somewhat likely," the newspaper reported Monday.
The voucher program, the broadest in the country, would give families $500 to $3,000, depending on income, for each child sent to private school. Children already in private school wouldn't be eligible, except students from low-income families.
Opponents collected petition signatures to suspend the law and put it up for a statewide vote Nov. 6. "I am very gratified with those results. They sound very good, but I know between now and then there is going to be a great deal of effort and money used to try and convince people to vote otherwise," said Kim Burningham, a voucher opponent and chairman of the Utah State Board of Education.
The poll found 24 percent were "very likely" to vote for vouchers and 12 percent were "somewhat likely" to support the law. Six percent didn't know.
The poll of 410 Utah residents was conducted June 26-28 by Dan Jones & Associates and has an error margin of 5 percentage points. "We do have quite a bit of education to do in the community," said Leah Barker, spokeswoman for a pro-voucher group, Parents for Choice in Education. "That is why our plan revolves mostly around grassroots efforts and really taking the time to explain the true merits of the voucher program," she said.
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Information from: Deseret Morning News.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
