http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_7327642
Voucher issue hits home stretch
By Lisa Schencker
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 10/31/2007 01:44:04 AM MDT
With the election just a week away, voucher opponents and advocates on
Tuesday debated whether a school voucher system would cut into other
state-funded programs.
If Utah voters pass school vouchers next Tuesday, money for vouchers
will come from the state's general fund. Rep. Sheryl Allen, R-Bountiful, a
voucher opponent, said vouchers could cut into programs that also are
supported by the general fund, such as Corrections and health and human
services.
"I would be, if I was the public, very very worried because this is a
very volatile fund," Allen said after the debate at the Salt Lake City Main
Library hosted by KCPW Radio and Fox Channel 13.
Rep. Greg Hughes, R-Draper, a voucher supporter, said during the debate
a voucher program would be more likely to save money. The Utah State Office
of Education estimates an additional 155,000 students will enter Utah
schools over the next 10 years. A voucher program, Hughes said, would help
to divert some of those students to private schools at a lower cost to the
state.
"That ultimately does save these general fund dollars, which we have a
need for," Hughes said.
One listener asked whether offering families voucher money would
violate separation of church and state if parents put the money toward
private, religious schools. If voters pass Referendum 1 on Tuesday, all
families eventually would be eligible to receive $500 to $3,000 from the
state per child per year, depending on income.
Richard Eyre, a voucher supporter, said the program would not violate
the Constitution.
"The money doesn't go to the school, it goes to the parents," Eyre
said.
Hughes added that religious colleges such as Brigham Young University
are filled with students attending on federal Pell Grants.
Voucher opponent Pat Rusk, however, said such an argument is a
semantics game. Ultimately, taxpayer money would go to religious schools
under the voucher program, she said.
"A Pell Grant is not given to millionaires," the former Utah Education
Association president added. "It's given on the basis of need and must be
taken to an accredited school."
Under Utah's voucher law, families of all incomes would be eligible for
different amounts of voucher money, and private schools accepting vouchers
would not necessarily have to be accredited.
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You are invited to check out the following:
The Rise of the Theocratic States of America
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocracy.htm
American Theocrats - Past and Present
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/theocrats.htm
The Constitutional Principle: Separation of Church and State
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
[and to join the discussion group for the above site and/or Separation of
Church and State in general, listed below]
HRSepCnS · Historical Reality SepChurch&State
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HRSepCnS/
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.. . . You can't understand a phrase such as "Congress shall make no law
respecting an establishment of religion" by syllogistic reasoning. Words
take their meaning from social as well as textual contexts, which is why "a
page of history is worth a volume of logic." New York Trust Co. v. Eisner,
256 U.S. 345, 349, 41 S.Ct. 506, 507, 65 L.Ed. 963 (1921) (Holmes, J.).
Sherman v. Community Consol. Dist. 21, 980 F.2d 437, 445 (7th Cir. 1992)
.. . .
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USAF LT. COL (Ret) Buffman (Glen P. Goffin) wrote
"You pilot always into an unknown future;
facts are your only clue. Get the facts!"
That philosophy 'snipit' helped to get me, and my crew, through a good
many combat missions and far too many scary, inflight, emergencies.
It has also played a significant role in helping me to expose the
plethora of radical Christian propaganda and lies that we find at
almost every media turn.
*****************************************************************
THE CONSTITUTIONAL PRINCIPLE:
SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE
http://members.tripod.com/~candst/index.html
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