Utah Voucher Program

The Utah Legislature recently enacted two voucher programs; the first, enacted in 2005, the Carson Smith Special Needs Scholarship, targets children with disabilities and currently enrolls about 624 students (2010-2011 school year); the second, enacted in 2007, would have become the nation's first "universal" private school voucher program, meaning that all private school students in the state would be eligible for vouchers when the program was fully implemented. Public school advocates, including the Utah School Boards Association, formed a coalition (Utahns for Public Schools) to challenge the program and successfully secured enough signatures to place the issue on a public ballot for a vote. In November 2007, the voters spoke, resoundingly repealing the voucher program by a vote of 62% to 38%. Every single Utah county rejected the voucher program. The defeat marked the 11th time in 11 referenda that a state's voters have rejected a specific voucher or tuition tax credit program or proposal.