Utah's universal voucher program was strangled in the crib on Tuesday, by a vote of 62 to 38 percent. Total votes numbered 497, 651. Given the number of registered voters,  that's a turnout of 33 percent--not great, but not bad.

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal (subscriber link ), the Cato Institute's Adam Schaeffer says that education reformers should reassess. 

First, school choice continues to exist in various forms:

Three states have modest forms of personal-use tax credits: Illinois allows families to claim credits worth 25% of their educational expenses up to $2,500. Iowa allows 25% up to $1,000, and Minnesota allows 75% of non-tuition expenses up to a maximum credit of $1,000 per child. Five states -- Arizona, Florida, Iowa, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island -- have more powerful donation credits. Pennsylvania allows a 90% credit for donations and Florida allows a 100% credit, helping thousands of children from lower-income families attend good, independent schools.

He also suggests that tax credits of various sorts are a better path towards expanding school choice than vouchers. Those familiar with the intramural debate will be familiar with the reasons, but here's my favorite one: 

donation tax credits create political dynamics that help reinforce school-choice programs, making it easier to expand them in the future. In Pennsylvania, for instance, the 183 scholarship organizations have become a permanent institutional base for supporters and beneficiaries, and a serious political force.

Regardless, there's a long ways to go before we shed our 19th-century model of education.