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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A proposal to give taxpayer-supported vouchers for children in private schools is stalled in the Legislature, and its sponsor is already making plans to bring it back next year.
This is the sixth consecutive year the Legislature has dealt with measures to secure vouchers or tuition tax credits to help parents pay for private school tuition. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Stuart Adams, R-Layton, said he'll probably let House Bill 184 stay on the shelf so that it can be studied for next year.
"This needs to stay a policy issue," Adams said. "I won't run it if I don't have the votes."
Finding $13 million to pay for the program also might be tough this late in the session, he said. The sesssion ends Wednesday.
"It doesn't look really promising at this point," said Elisa Clements Peterson, executive director of Parents for Choice in Education.
HB184 would offer vouchers worth $500 to $3,500, based on family income, to families of students switching from public to private schools or low-income students currently in private schools. Parents would have to use the money to pay for private-school tuition.
The bill would give $13.3 million in general funds, not dedicated school funds, to pay for the vouchers in the first year.
School districts would receive some of their state per-student dollars for voucher students, and the rest of those per-student dollars would go into an account to benefit districts proving they were financially hurt by vouchers.
House members are mindful their vouchers votes would be watched by opposing political action committees: the pro-voucher Parents for Choice in Education, or anti-voucher Utah Education Association. In the 2004 election year, Parents for Choice spent more than $322,000, and the UEA spent just under $270,000, online PAC reports show.
House Speaker Greg Curtis said he supports HB 184, but would leave it up to the sponsor to bring it out for debate or let it die.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
