Being lifelong Utah residents, we know that aside from the occasional Lindsay Lohan sighting and the 2002 Olympics, our cozy little conservative state doesn’t get much national attention. But now all eyes are on us to see if Referendum 1, a groundbreaking piece of legislation up for vote on Nov. 6 that could mean the end of the world as we know it, passes.

Let us explain. We, like 96 percent of students in Utah, went to public school. An institution which, despite its flaws and imperfections, has managed to land Utah in the national top ten rankings for graduation, and scored a solid “A” grade in college preparation. So why are Utah schools receiving “failing” grades according to the standards of the No Child Left Behind Act? Because every year NCLB raises its standards for student test scores so that eventually we will reach a level of high-scoring perfection nationwide.

Unfortunately, this program is unrealistic, and fails to take into account the slower learning pace of ESL, disabled, and other struggling student populations. In a matter of years, every Utah school will be smacked with a “failing” label, even though the quality of education will actually have improved over the years.

What does this have to do with vouchers? Referendum 1 claims to be the answer to the problem of “failing” public schools. The funny thing is, our schools won’t fail unless vouchers succeed. Referendum 1 gives scholarship money to parents who choose to save their children from those nasty “failing” public schools by putting them into private schools. Private schools and their teachers are not held to the same standards as public schools, and statistics show no significant difference in performance between publicly and privately educated children. Private schools are not proven to be of any better quality than the “failing” public schools.

But the real problem with Referendum 1 is that for every student that goes to private school, a public school loses funding. And every dollar that public schools lose is one dollar less they have to spend on insignificant extras such as teachers, computers, books, arts programs, and resources for ESL and disabled student populations. And then you’ve got a serious problem. After loss of funding to private schools, public schools really will become failing schools, and then we will face terrifying consequences.

Our current education system is committed to educating every child equally, regardless of the income of their parents, their intelligence, behavioral problems, race, or religion; this is a system that serves up a dose of tolerance and understanding with its arithmetic. If privatization becomes the standard, segregation is inevitable. Since private schools are allowed to turn away any student for any reason, there will be a natural division of the haves from the have-nots, the whites from the blacks, the music nerds from the science geeks, the thespians from the athletes and the list goes on. There will be a special school for everyone, where no one receives a social education of diversity and tolerance. Scary.

Another disturbing reality is the fate of struggling students in the face of privatization. We all like to think that our kids will be brilliant and perfect, but if not, if they suffer from developmental delays, behavioral problems or disabilities, or just aren’t very bright, where will they go to school? It is monumentally expensive and more than a little complicated to educate these populations and the poor scores they bring are unattractive to a school’s performance data, thus private schools aren’t going to willingly shoulder the burden. So those millions of students that are too much effort or too expensive or too dumb will end up in a public school that no longer has the resources to educate properly, because its funding has been lost to private schools. Yikes.

Most of us, despite our grand dreams of wealth and glory, will make moderate incomes and have billions of kids, and private schools will be a luxury we can’t afford, vouchers or no vouchers. The average private school in Utah costs $8,000/year/kid, and the average family (two kids and the median income) only qualifies for a $2000 voucher per kid. You can kiss Disneyland goodbye, because if vouchers pass, you’re going to need every extra cent to pay for your kids to learn how to read. But future millionaires need not fear, because even making $150,000+ you’ll get $500 per kid to pay for their schooling. So the people who can already afford private school get free money anyway, and the people who can’t afford it don’t get enough to put it within reach. Ridiculous.

Referendum1, if passed, will hurt Utah public education, Utah kids, and Utah taxpayers. Decide now - where will your kids be in 2020?

The Bushmans reside in Provo. Adam is a senior majoring in business.

Copyright Brigham Young University 12 Oct 2007