Colorado school voucher program signed into law

State program is first since Supreme Court ruling

DENVER, Colorado (Reuters) --Colorado Gov. Bill Owens Wednesday signed into law a bill creating the first school voucher program since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled public funds can be used for tuition at private schools including religious ones.

The program is set to become the largest in the United States, with nearly 20,000 students qualified to join by the 2007-08 school year.

"No longer will we focus on what's best for the system, now we will focus on what is best for the children," the Republican governor said as about 500 children from private schools, many in uniforms, sang and applauded at the steps of the state capitol.

Supporters say the program will offer thousands of poor children a chance for a better education. Critics argue the law does nothing to help public schools and violates the state's constitution barring state funding of church-supported schools.

Colorado voters rejected vouchers in 1992 and 1998. Teacher groups, the People For the American Way and the Anti-Defamation League criticized the measure because it allows public money to be spent at religious-affiliated schools.

The new law establishes the Colorado Opportunity Contract Pilot Program, effective in the fall of 2004, and offers financial assistance to poor students in troubled school districts.

The program, which must go through legislative review before it becomes permanent, is to begin with about 3,200 students in 11 school districts. Most are in the Denver metropolitan area, but some are in Colorado Springs and Pueblo.

The Colorado Education Association, which represents 36,500 public school teachers, said it had not yet decided whether it will launch a court challenge.

"The Constitution is very clear that neither the state nor school districts shall appropriate funds to sectarian institutions or to any institution not under the absolute control of the state," the associations's president Ron Brady said in a statement.

Last year the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Ohio Pilot Scholarship Program, which uses public money to underwrite tuition at schools with religious affiliations.