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August 20, 2007
Strike two: Utah voucher crowd getting desperateIt's more than 2 months before Utahns vote on vouchers and there are growing signs of strain among the pro-voucher lobby. Recently BoardBuzz reported on the controversial Book of Mormon radio ad that voucher advocates ended up pulling. Now it is on to push polling on issues unrelated to vouchers.
What do vouchers have to do with same-sex unions? That's what some Utah residents are wondering in the face of a telephone push poll from Parents for Choice in Education, the Utah group backing vouchers. The Salt Lake Tribune and Deseret Morning News report on the telephone "survey" here and here.
There's no question that push polling has become a way of life in modern campaigns, and it is always risky to try to read the tea leaves, but for voucher advocates to be turning to this tactic this far ahead of the vote makes one wonder about their internal polling numbers. The last publicly released poll showed voucher opponents well ahead. NSBA has often pointed out the many flaws in vouchers, and Utahns for Public Schools has been making the case against the specific plan voters will be deciding. Have voucher advocates already concluded they can't win if the debate actually focuses on vouchers?
The Salt Lake Tribune editorial page seems to think so.
This bald effort to mislead only cheapens the debate and sidetracks the real question: Should taxpayers be forced to subsidize private schools that the state does not oversee or hold accountable to the public system?
The race to define the terms of the debate appears to have begun.
Posted August 20, 2007 2:42 PM | Privatization & Choice
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