McKay Scholarships may double this year, but few students are using vouchers to escape failing schools.
School voucher programs are expected to divert about $56-million from Florida public schools to private schools this year, roughly twice the amount spent last year.

But relatively few students are using the most controversial vouchers.

The vast majority of the money is going to the McKay Scholarship program for disabled children, a program often overshadowed by the state's original voucher program for children at public schools deemed failures by the state. The McKay program has attracted more than 7,000 children this year, and state officials expect the number to be close to 8,000 as additional applications are processed. That would amount to nearly a two-fold increase over last year.

As dramatic as the McKay Scholarship numbers are, just as surprising is the small number of children who used vouchers to leave failing schools.

Of the roughly 8,900 children who attend the 10 public schools that qualified for vouchers, 446 have taken a state voucher to a private school. State officials expect that number to increase to as high as 600. Still, that amounts to about 6.5 percent of the eligible children.

"We've had a few kids leave, but not many," said Alejandro Perez, the principal at Comstock Elementary School in Miami-Dade. He estimated that more than 50 children took a voucher to go to a private school.

Perez, who took the reins at Comstock just three weeks ago, added that several children have returned to his school after short stints at private schools.

Florida Education Commissioner Charlie Crist applauded the trends in the voucher numbers.

"That mass exodus that people predicted never happened, and I don't think it will," Crist said, referring to the modest numbers of children leaving F schools.

As for the increase in children taking McKay Scholarships, Crist said it is evidence that the program appeals to parents.

"That's the parents' choice," he said. "The children should go to school where their parents feel they will get the best education. The program is working."

The voucher programs are the subject of a high-profile lawsuit that is sure to make its way to the Florida Supreme Court, if not the nation's highest court.

And the two gubernatorial candidates take opposing views on vouchers.

Gov. Jeb Bush promoted vouchers as an integral part of his school accountability plan, saying they give parents an important choice while prodding public schools to improve.

The Democratic nominee, Bill McBride, opposes vouchers. He says they drain scarce resources from schools.

Florida has three different voucher programs. The original program - the Opportunity Scholarship Program - makes vouchers available to children at schools that get F's from the state two out of four years. The program started slowly in 1999, involving roughly 50 children in two Pensacola elementary schools - the only schools to get the double-F designation. As of this school year, children at 10 more schools became eligible for that voucher program.

The McKay Scholarship program is named after Senate President John McKay, who wanted parents of disabled children to be able to find the best school for their child's special needs. The program started in 2000 and has become quite popular with parents, growing every year.

In Pinellas County about 580 disabled children left a public school for a private school courtesy of a McKay voucher. That took about $4-million out of the Pinellas school budget, said Pinellas Budget Director Doug Forth. Last year, 314 Pinellas children used McKay Scholarships.

In Hillsborough, roughly 347 children left the public school for a private school this year.

A third program offers partial scholarships to poor children, with the money coming from corporations that get state tax credits equal to the amount they contribute to the program. The program, which technically does not involve tax dollars, has run into some difficulty recently with corporate pledges. Still it has 13,800 children participating this school year.

Voucher advocates point out that voucher money follows the child, and that the public school should not get the money if they aren't educating the child.

Opponents say the transfer is not that simple.

"Even if you take two kids out of a classroom, we still have to have the teacher in that classroom," said Maureen Dinnen, president of the Florida Education Association. "This is exactly what we forecast. They are taking more and more money out of the public schools. ... "