I recently read a guest op-ed about educational scholarships — written by Christine Cooke Fairbanks of the Sutherland Institute — and I am super excited.
My two kids want to go to private schools; my son wants to study yoga and my daughter wants to learn to cook. However, Utah public and charter schools don’t offer these subjects. But, according to Ms. Fairbanks, Utahns (44%) support Utah Fits All (UFA) Scholarships.
Both the governor and the state Legislature, in the last two weeks of the 2023 Legislative session, allocated $84,000 of public school money to be used this year in support of the UFA Scholarship program, $8,000 per scholarship.
So, maybe my kids can cash in?
Private school is expensive. But I also noticed that the Utah Constitution prohibits public funds from going to “sectarian” schools. What is “sectarian?” I had to look it up. The Oxford English Dictionary says it’s pertaining to religion. Drat. I suppose yoga is a religion?
Oh, wait a minute. Our legislators in their great wisdom decided to allow UFA scholarships to pay for religious school tuition. And at least half of the scholarship money has already gone to pay religious schools to educate Utah kids already enrolled.
Fantastic! My son is in!
What about my daughter? Does it matter that she’s 52? Oh, look. The Legislature isn’t requiring any reporting from the UFA administrators until the end of 2025. Yeah! They’ll never notice.
On the gravy train and feeding from the public trough,
Christine Hult, Logan
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