To the editor:
I have read with interest Richard Eyre's proposed voucher system for education. I believe something drastic needs to be done in Utah to correct the education crisis we have faced now for years. Unfortunately, our Legislature and governor have had about as much resolve addressing this crisis as Congress has had in addressing the federal budget deficit.I applaud Mr. Eyre's attempts to get us talking about education, but a practical question plagues me about his voucher system that I have never seen addressed.
As I understand his proposal, parents of school-children would get a voucher for each child that could be used like money (that would be paid from the state treasury) either at a public school or at the private school of their choice.
Because a good number of private schools now are, and likely more will be, religious schools, has Mr. Eyre's staff looked at whether current U.S. Supreme Court precedent would allow use of a voucher, which clearly is tax money, to pay for a private religious education?
I do not believe current precedent would allow it, and because of that, Mr. Eyre's voucher system may never get off the ground. Currently, prayer at graduations and city council meetings is a hot legal and political issue, but prayer would take a quick back seat if the Legislature tries to indirectly appropriate tax money to pay for religious education. It could be the cable TV and abortion cases all over again.
Larry S. Jenkins
Salt Lake City