Right-wing lobbyist: It was 'thoughtless' to say I want to 'destroy public education'

A Utah lobbyist from a pro-school voucher nonprofit is apologizing after being caught on hot mic saying she wants to "destroy public education," according to The Salt Lake Tribune this week.

"Allison Sorensen, the executive director of Education Opportunity for Every Child, a school choice nonprofit, confirmed to The Salt Lake Tribune in a statement Monday that she made the remarks and regrets it," reported Courtney Tanner.

“I apologize for my thoughtless and inappropriate comments,” the lobbyist said in a prepared statement. “I should not have made them. My remarks as an individual should not be interpreted to represent any organization, the Legislature, or the tens of thousands of Utahns who are asking for more education opportunities for their families and communities.”

In the audio clip, posted by conservative activist Lisa Logan of Utah Parents United over the weekend, Sorensen was asked what would happen if it becomes too expensive to fund both public schools and the school voucher program together -- to which Sorensen replied that "we'll change the way we fund the program" and "take money out of the public schools."

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"The bigger the program gets, the larger the army I have that's going to be pissed off if the program — if something changes in the program," said Sorensen. "I can't say this is a recall of public education, even though I want to destroy public education. I can't say that. The legislature's going to say that, because they're just going to be reamed over the coals ... they can't have that PR mess."

All of this comes as a controversial voucher bill sails through the Utah legislature. Republican Gov. Spencer Cox has expressed his support for the measure.

Education activists have long fought over school vouchers, which can partially fund tuition for parents to place children in private schools. Supporters have claimed the purpose is to allow tax money to "follow" students; experts have warned these programs can be a pretext to defund public schools, and that students enrolled in voucher programs actually perform worse than peers in public schools. One study of voucher programs in Louisiana, Indiana, Ohio, and Washington, D.C. found students in participating private schools did significantly worse, especially in math, and the D.C. voucher students in particular lost the equivalent 68 days out of the school year.