Colorado adopts statewide school vouchers.

• Position: On First Reading

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court declared that taxpayer-supported vouchers are constitutional, Colorado has adopted a statewide voucher plan, but it is being challenged in Denver district court.

Approved by the legislature in April, the new Colorado law follows the high court's dictum that taxpayer-supported vouchers are constitutional if they provide parents a choice among religious and secular schools.

The law allows students in Denver and 10 other districts, which have eight or more schools rated with "low" or "unsatisfactory" performance, to opt out of public schools at the request of their parents. Those parents are paid 75 percent to 85 percent of the public per pupil state allocation (which ranges from about $5,000 to $6,000) for private school tuition. However, if tuition to the private institution is less, for example $3,500, the voucher pays only that amount; public schools are allowed to keep the remainder of the money, says Representative Nancy Spence, bill sponsor.

"If a student starts in kindergarten and remains until 12th grade, the public school district stands to gain a windfall. If parents are paying $3,500 and the state is allocating $5,000 to $6,000, the public school keeps the surplus funds for a student to whom they do not have to provide services," says Spence.

Students qualify if they do badly on...