SALT LAKE CITY – By a vote of its membership, the Libertarian Organizing Committee is encouraging Libertarians and liberty-minded Utahns to vote for Citizen’s State Referendum Number 1.

"On balance, voter approval of education scholarships through Referendum 1 will improve educational outcomes for children compelled to participate in taxpayer-funded, constitutionally-mandated government education systems in Utah," says Rob Latham, chairman of the Libertarian Organizing Committee.

"Allowing parents to use some of the wealth extorted from taxpayers to place their children in voluntarily-attended learning environments will help decentralize the dangerous, gun-run school system that has captured a nation's highest 97 percent 'monopoly' share of K-12 students in Utah," adds Latham.

Latham also thinks that the educational scholarship program’s design will encourage many parents -- who don’t obtain additional funding -- to partly contribute toward the total tuition amount and stimulate more personal investment and involvement in their child’s learning, which has been shown to improve educational quality.

"Despite valid concerns that taxpayer-funded educational scholarships will perpetuate parental dependence on educational welfare," says Latham, "Referendum 1 is an important first step toward separating school and state."

"Therefore, Libertarians will continue to champion the right and responsibility of parents to educate their children, and advocate replacing taxes with non-coercive alternatives such as user fees to fund services," says Latham.