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Show it. r Against Arguments Utah education does not Initiative help C Ecbuftnl to or Utah taxpayers! Initiative C costs taxpayers $ millions! Initiative C would give parents a tax credit of up to $722 a school. Over 5,500 children year for each child taught in a private which could cost the state over $3.5 go to private schools already, million in the first year alone. If a person doesnt owe any taxes or enough taxes to cover the credit, taxpayers would have to pay that person the difference! Initiative C destroys equality in education! Utah has long been committed to giving children an equal free public schools. To guarantee education in that equal education throughout Utah, the state insures districts have about the same amount of money per child. Initiative C would damage the whole school funding process. If it child an passes, it may destroy Utahs ability to guarantee every to take their equal education. By giving a tax credit for parents children out of the public schools, it creates at least a would system of education. The wealth of a childs parents determine the quality of education a child gets! Parents able to put their children in private schools and Because the tax credit claim the tax credit are usually well-off- . would reduce education funding, it would decrease the quality of education in public schools. The students continuing in public schools would suffer while the wealthy benefited. Initiative C increases the percentage of difficult students in public schools! Private schools can refuse students who have discipline schools problems, or who need specialized programs. Public must educate every child. Research has shown that a core of students can lift up" an entire school. good All of society benefits from good schools. The initiative takes The quality of many of the best students out of public schools. education in public schools will suffer. Arguments Against Inilmtirr C big Opponents to Initiative C reflect an arrogant government knows best attitude toward education. They say: parents cant be trusted to look out for the education of their must be controlled; children; unregulated opportunists and, a new bureaucracy will be needed to supervise private schools. Claiming an initial expenditure of $3.1 million dollars out of a billion dollar budget would damage the "whole school funding process" is ridiculous. So is the idea that public education is "free. Those already in private schools save the state about $12 million dollars a year. A tax credit would open a window of opportunity for less parents and children. Difficult students would not be left in the public schools. Many parents with children with special problems would have the option, with the tax credit, to seek the special help they need. Initiative C is not unconstitutional. President Reagan and the Department of Education have supported similar plans. Minnesota has a similarplan which wasjudged constitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1983. The Utah Attorney General found no unconstitutional aspects in the initiative. Opponents, whose goal is "equality in education, instead of providing each child the opportunity to reach his or her to justify "supergreatest potential, would use this initiative have done an vising" private schools. Utahs private schools exemplary job in the past with minimal state supervision. increased Passage of Initiative C should not be a license for state involvement. A Vote FOB Initiative C can improve ALL education. i i 'i i i ,i Senator Bill Barton 3940 West 4100 South West Valley City, Utah 84120 Initiative C is unconstitutional! In 1973, the United States Supreme Court struck down a New York law almost identical to Initiative C. The court declared that since the program rewarded parents only when they sent their children to private schools, which include religious also schools, it promoted religion. Initiative C is probably unconstitutional. If it is approved by the voters, it could be be spent costly to the state to defend the law! That money could on education for our children. Initiative C f encourages home schools! Few parents have the time or skills to teach the subjects schools required in public schools. Many would start home of seeing primarily for the tax credit and not for the purpose children receive a quality education. Unregulated opportunists could take advantage of unsuspecting parents and students! ! The state would need a new bureaucracy to supervise private schools! Utah currently has no way to set or enforce standards for will have to private schools. But if Initiative C passes, the state Initiative supervise private schools to prevent fraud and abuse. C makes a new bureaucracy necessary! Lets not destroy education! Vote i C! Initiative Senator Haven J. Barlow i P.O. Box 626 Layton, Utah 84041 f AGAINST r Page 31 |