CLEVELAND (AP) -- Supporters of the city's school voucher program reveled in their victory Thursday as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the program does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
Elaine Barclay, 35, who has two daughters attending a Baptist school under the voucher program, said the ruling was an answer to her prayers.

"It means everything to us," she said. "Its an excellent program. We support it. We're very, very happy. We were praying they would rule for the vouchers."

Her daughters, ages 9 and 10, will enter the fifth and sixth grades in the fall at West Side Baptist Christian School. She said the school has a better curriculum than public schools and offered religion classes, which was important to her and her husband, Kevin.

Cleveland's Scholarship and Tutoring Program is open to students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The 6-year-old pilot program in the city's inner-city provides parents a tax-supported education stipend. Parents may use the money to opt out of one of the worst-rated public schools in the nation.

Students are chosen randomly, but preference is given to families with incomes less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level and to students with a sibling already enrolled in the program.

Scholarships of up to $2,250 may be used at religious and other private schools within the Cleveland Municipal School District or public schools in adjacent districts.

Eulanda Johnson, 37, of Cleveland was overjoyed at the ruling.

"Thank you lord!" she said. "I thought I was going to have to work a second job."

Johnson's daughter, Ebony Williams, is entering sixth grade at St. Mary's Catholic school in the Collinwood neighborhood. Based on her income, Johnson pays 25 percent of the $2,250 annual tuition and the voucher program pays the remainder.

"Now I can be able to afford to send her to the school," Johnson said.

David Zanotti, chairman of the Ohio Roundtable's school choice committee, said, "For the kids of Cleveland, the 4th of July came early. What we have here is essentially a declaration of independence for their parents."

Opponents call vouchers a fraud meant to siphon tax money from struggling public schools.

The Rev. Steve Behr, a Lutheran minister who was one of the original plaintiffs challenging the program, said the ruling will simply speed the erosion of Cleveland's public school system.

"It has taken 200 years for this country to build up a public school system that would serve everyone," he said. "Now we are taking money out of the public school system, so next year we can just turn around and say, 'See, they are failing."'

Behr, who now lives in San Antonio, says the ruling also raises concerns about the separation of church and state.

"You are in actuality giving a subsidy to a religious institution," he said. "They are giving it for the support of the school and its worship."