Gloomy outlook for vouchers

What didn’t work in Utah probably won’t make it elsewhere, either | Joel Belz

I was disappointed—and not just a little bit—when voters in Utah on Nov. 6 shot down a school voucher program that had potential for changing the face of education nationwide. The 60-40 defeat puts a gloomy face on future prospects for vouchers everywhere.

It was the best chance vouchers had had anywhere in the United States, and it went down to such costly and ignominious defeat that it's hard to imagine where or how voucher supporters will even make another attempt. The Utah proposal had been carefully constructed by its backers, passed handily by the state legislature, signed by the governor, and was ready to be implemented.

But then the obviously fearful and jealous public-school lobby went into action. "What could possibly be fairer," these plotters proposed, "than to take this to the people of Utah and get them to vote on the whole proposal?"