Utah seeking to dismiss Utah Education Association voucher lawsuit
Jul 24, 2024, 10:30 AM
FILE: The Scott M. Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City is pictured on Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2020. Many are debating whether or not to keep the death penalty in Utah. (Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
(Spenser Heaps, Deseret News)
SALT LAKE CITY — Attorneys for Utah Gov. Spencer Cox and Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes are seeking to dismiss a lawsuit brought against the state by the Utah Education Association.
The state’s largest teachers union in May filed a lawsuit challenging the recently implemented Utah Fits All voucher program, which gives private schools $82.5 million in public funds.
“This lawsuit is necessary to ensure that public funds remain in public schools, where they can do the most good for all our students,” the association said in a statement at the time of the filing.
The lawsuit — filed by the Utah Education Association, Kevin Labresh and Terra Cooper on behalf of their children, Amy Barton, and Carol Lear, an elected member of the Utah State Board of Education — alleges that the law violates Utah’s constitutionally protected right to a free education by diverting income tax revenues “to fund private schools that are 1) not free, 2) not open to all students, and 3) not controlled and supervised by the State Board of Education,” the lawsuit says.
But in the new court filings, lawyers for the state argue that funding for the voucher program pales in comparison to the funding for the public education system of just over $8.43 billion for the 2024-25 fiscal year.
“Accordingly, the Legislature has allocated funds for the UFA Scholarship Program amounting to less than 1% of the overall budget provided for the public education system. Nothing in the statute that creates the UFA Scholarship Program states or implies that funding for the program will be taken from funds that would otherwise be appropriated to fund the public education system,” wrote Assistant Utah Attorney General Scott Ryther.
