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Utah Vouchers Rejected in Overwhelming Vote

Supporters cheer during anti-school voucher election night festivities on Nov. 6, in Salt Lake City. Voters decided against adopting the nation's first universal school voucher program.

—Douglas C. Pizac/AP

By Michele McNeil

After a multimillion-dollar political campaign that pitted teachers’ unions nationally against school choice advocates, Utah voters yesterday repealed the nation’s first universal voucher law by an overwhelming margin.

With nearly 97 percent of the votes counted, state election results showed that 62 percent of voters rejected the voucher law narrowly enacted earlier this year, in what was Utah’s first “citizens’ veto” referendum in 30 years.

The level of opposition was much greater in the voting public than in the GOP-controlled legislature, which approved the voucher law by a single vote. Had the law been allowed to take effect, it would have provided all public school students with vouchers ranging from $500 to $3,000 a year,...