A big day for school choice in Utah and Friedman

Parents Forum
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<p>At 11 am MST, the Utah House will begin debating what could become the nation’s first universal school choice program – the type of program that Milton Friedman wrote about in 1955 and pursued tirelessly for over 50 years.</p>

<p>You should be able to listen to a live audio broadcast of the hearing at <a href=“http://www.le.state.ut.us/[/url]”>http://www.le.state.ut.us/&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The program would allow every child, even children currently enrolled in private schools, to be eligible for a school voucher worth between $500 and $3,000 depending on the family annual income.</p>

<p>This opportunity has been nearly six years in the making and would not be possible without the tremendous effort and leadership of the Utah-based Parents for Choice in Education and numerous dedicated legislators.</p>

<p>You can also find an editorial in this morning’s Wall Street Journal discussing this Utah opportunity at <a href=“http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117038778761595857.html[/url]”>http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117038778761595857.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>Please note that THE FULL WSJ.com ARTICLE IS ONLY AVAILABLE TO SUBSCRIBERS.</p>

<p>Upon passage, HB 148 would be sent to the Senate, which in previous years has openly supported broad-based school choice programs.</p>

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<p>Berlin Wall … that is an understatement!</p>

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<p>Interesting! I’d like to see this covered in the evening news, but somhow I doubt it will make the cut…</p>

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<p>Will homeschoolers get vouchers too?</p>

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<p>I believe the system is: if you pay taxes (which would include paying for public schooling), you get a voucher to use towards schooling. So for home schooling, either funds for books/programs or a tax deduction?</p>

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<p>This is progress but it needs to go further and allow every student’s voucher to equate to the cost of educating them in the public school. The low end, $500, is next to nothing and the high end, $3000, must be far from what’s actually spent (i.e. collected in taxes) per student. Do they get more voucher value if they pay more in taxes or is it the opposite where the more you pay the less you get?</p>

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<p><a href=“http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/news/2007-02-02.html[/url]”>http://www.friedmanfoundation.org/news/2007-02-02.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>February 02, 2007<br>
Utah House passes universal school choice<br>
Milton Friedman</p>