Gov. Cox indicates he will veto proposed school voucher bill

Utah Governor Spencer Cox speaks during his monthly news conference in February 2022. Photo: Utah Gov. Spencer J. Cox

SALT LAKE CITY — House Bill 331, which is currently up for debate in the Utah House, would create the Hope Scholarship Program. The program would provide school vouchers for children to attend private schools.

The bill passed the House Revenue and Taxation Standing Committee on Tuesday via a 6-5 vote. Gov. Cox, at his monthly news conference on Thursday, said he supports the bill, but wants to see the state’s teachers get a pay raise first. The governor said the average starting salary for teachers in Utah is roughly $43,000.

“You can’t take money that could go to our schools and allow it to go to private schools when you’re not fully funding the education system in our state,” Cox said.

“With the price of housing, with inflation happening right now, I don’t want to live in a state where teachers can’t buy a home. That’s not okay… When teachers are making $60,000 a year to start, I will fully support vouchers. I’m all in on vouchers, but we have a long way to go before we get there.”

When asked by a reporter on Thursday if he would veto the bill, Gov. Cox replied simply, saying “yeah.”

A similar effort failed at the ballot box in 2007.

“At some point I would be absolutely willing to support vouchers, but that point is not now because we are underfunding our schools,” the governor said.