During the voucher debate I often opined on KVNU that among the first to petition for vouchers in private schools would be the FLDS in Hildale. The FLDS have a history of private schools and certainly could put together the requisite 40 children. As long as the voucher program funded one type of religious instruction, it had to fund all (although was in clear violation of the Utah Constitution).
As it turns out, my hypothesis was correct. From today’s Tribune:
Voters in two polygamous communities gave overwhelming approval to a voucher law defeated statewide this week.
Residents of Hildale and Rocky Ridge approved the measure by almost identical margins: 79 percent and 80 percent.
Hildale, in Washington County, is home to the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Rocky Ridge, in Juab County, is a satellite community of the Apostolic United Brethren, also known as the Allred group. The AUB has members scattered through the state, primarily in the Salt Lake Valley.
Some voucher critics argued that, if approved, the law would funnel tax dollars to schools in polygamous communities.
The article goes on to state:
It was an unfounded fear.
The voucher law barred scholarships from being used at schools that encourage “illegal conduct” – a provision apparently aimed at making private schools in polygamous communities ineligible.
What would have prevented the schools from teaching all of fundamentalism except polygamy? There is much more to Mormon fundamentalism than polygamy, though that is the defining characteristic to outsiders.
To me, the vote in these towns indicates not only a support but an interest in participating in the voucher program.
Let me also add that a parent has the right to send their kids to any school of their choosing- with their own dollars. That school could teach any religious doctrine deemed appropriate by the parent. However, the State of Utah should not fund schools of religious extremism. And because the State cannot be selective about which religions it finds appropriate and which it deems extreme, it should not be in the business of funnelling public dollars to private religious instruction.
-Tom
Hear hear!
This was one of the aspects of the failed law that bugged me the most.
Thanks for pointing out the article!
I don’t know; I think Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton are scarier boogeymen than Mormon Fundamentalists.
Craig,
Witty response, it brought a smile to my face. However, religious extremism is germaine to the voucher debate while Hillary and Ted are completely unrelated.
I always shook my head when I heard your argument Tom. I saw it as a boogeyman first, and thought police second.
One of the first tenants of schools, private or public, is parental involvement. In other words, more education comes from the home than the school. Yet you figured you could control the spread of beliefs by controlling what was taught in school.
Another extrapolation of that is that schools/government know better what to teach and what should be believed than parents. That lose of freedom and abrogation of thought to the state is the scariest boogeyman of all.