Utah is taking a progressive leap forward.
Surprising, I know.
By recently approving the first-ever universal voucher program in the United States, Utah has taken a first step toward transforming itself into a model of how to stay competitive in the new global economy.
Of course, all of this depends on Utah actually implementing, and hopefully expanding upon, the foundation that the Utah's universal voucher program has laid.
On Feb. 15, Utah Gov. John Hunstman Jr. signed into law the Parent Choice in Education Act, which will offer all Utah parents a voucher between $500 and $3,000 to be used at any private school. In other words, Utah has taken the lead in the school choice movement, a lead formerly held by Arizona.
The idea behind universal vouchers is simple and radically progressive.
Instead of having the government run the entire school system, and telling parents where they may or may not send their children to school assuming the parents cannot afford a private education and have no other choice but to use the government-run school system, we provide all parents a certain amount of funds, in the form of a voucher, to use at whatever school they choose.
Parents gain more control over the educational opportunities of their children. Children gain the opportunities of choosing among diverse, competing schools. Taxpayers gain an educational system that is not completely tied down by government bureaucracy and government monopoly: a system that will benefit from the market aspects of competition, innovation and individual choice.
As with any attempt at deregulation and privatization, critics are not hard to find.
People for the American Way, a well-funded lobbying group that advocates for more expansive government programs, describe Utah's new law as "universal voucher legislation that would allow taxpayer money to be taken from public schools and sent directly to religious schools."
"This is a sad day for Utah students," People for the American Way Public Policy Director Tanya Clay House said in a press release. "No matter what kind of fuzzy math legislators push, the bottom line is that money will be taken from public schools and sent to private ones. That's no way to help our education system."
What opponents of the school choice movement fail to see is that government-run school have no entitlement to our - not the government's - money. Vouchers give parents ownership in the educational system, providing them the ability to use the voucher at whatever school they see fit.
And in the case of Utah, parents could simply choose to keep their children in the existing public school system.
Utah's voucher program, to be effective, needs to be strengthened. All parents should be eligible for vouchers that cover the entire cost of per pupil public education in the state, not given a voucher that is worth less than a government-school education costs taxpayers.
Meanwhile, Arizona needs to get on the ball. The world is flat, our economy is global, and our state's education system needs to embrace the innovation, efficiency and individuality of a market with free buyers and free sellers.
Utah's law is a substantial step toward an educational system that will provide choice and opportunity to all students, especially those most in need of legitimate opportunity.
It's time for Arizona to take the next step forward.
Reach the reporter at: macy.hanson@asuchoice.com.
