Republican Party Rot Rears Its Ugly Head – Opinion

Apparently, there are some Republicans who still don’t know what time it is, and one of those is Gov. Spencer Cox from Utah

For parents all across America, the push for school choice is a major issue. This issue has made significant progress in recent years. You would think that deep-red states would be the leaders in this fight. Unfortunately, Utah isn’t joining that number.

Spencer instead announced that he would veto House Bill 331 which would have provided education vouchers through scholarship accounts. This would enable parents to spend the money on any school that they want, even private.

This is The Daily Caller.

Utah’s Republican Gov. Spencer Cox vowed to veto a school choice bill on Thursday as school choice advocates point out that the Governor accepted $75,000 in campaign funds from the nation’s largest teachers union.

Cox said during his monthly news conference that he would veto House Bill 331, which would create an educational voucher program that establishes “scholarship accounts on behalf of eligible students to pay for private education goods and services” for the 2023-2024 school year, according to a local news outlet.

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

Yes, that’s right. Spencer is vetoing a school choice bill after previously receiving $75,000 in campaign funds from the National Education Association, the nation’s largest teachers union and one that has caused incredible harm to children during the COVID-19 pandemic. How can a Republican get that much money from an organization almost entirely funded by Democrats? Utah’s voters ought to have asked this question prior to electing Spencer.

It’s the excuse given that really pushes the limits of absurdity, though. Spencer says he’ll support vouchers in the future but can’t now because schools are being underfunded. However, if these schools did a sufficient job to retain students why would a voucher program result in less funding. This seems like an admission that schools may be failing but the system needs to be designed so that it doesn’t happen. To be frank, that’s a position often taken by Democrats, so it’s odd to see it coming from a Republican.

Spencer stated these words on his radio program, further raising questions regarding his motives.

When the teacher’s starting salary reaches $60,000., Governor Scott said he would support funding a voucher programme.

It seems that this is a request straight from the teachers’ union. What makes a voucher program dependent upon the salaries of public school teachers’ starting wages? Those aren’t even related issues.

There is still a chance that Spencer may override the veto of the Utah legislature, which is heavily GOP. It would be the correct move. The time to give parents choice is now, not five years from now, and any Republican taking gobs of cash from the nation’s largest teachers union should be looked at with a skeptical eye.

In the end, there’s still a lot of rot to clean out of the Republican Party. Far too many GOP politicians are still comfortable treating voters as if the last five years didn’t happen, valuing pointless shows of moderation over actually doing what’s right. If Spencer doesn’t want to wake up and understand that parental choice is now a cornerstone issue, he can reap the consequences of that.