Brian Sandoval soft on vouchers? Nope.

By Anjeanette Damon

Tuesday, June 29, 2010 | 1:59 p.m.

On the campaign trail during the primary, Republican gubernatorial contender Brian Sandoval talked a lot about “school choice.”

But he sometimes had to be prodded about whether school choice meant vouchers—an issue popular with conservatives and anathema to liberals who don’t want to see tax dollars diverted from public schools to private ones.

When prodded, Sandoval would always say, yes, he supports vouchers. And “Yes, I support vouchers” appeared to be about as far as he went in the education plan he released today.

“Parents should be able to seek out the best possible education for their kids. Whether it is across the street, across town, public or private – our kids deserve every opportunity to succeed,” the plan says in a brief section on vouchers.

In a short follow-up interview, however, Sandoval confirmed that he will propose funding a voucher program. He said he will seek legislation to allow students to take some or all of his or her per-pupil average funding from a public school to a private school.

Sandoval said he hasn’t decided exactly how much money a student will be allowed to take to a private school through the voucher program.

As for whether the voucher program will shrink the amount of money available to public schools, Sandoval points out: “Well, that school’s not having to teach that student either.”