The U.S. Supreme Court agreed yesterday to hear Cleveland's school voucher case, setting up a historic showdown on whether taxpayer money can be used for tuition at religious schools.

The court's ruling, which is expected in June, will amount to the final word on one of the most contentious and divisive education reform issues in the last 25 years.

The nine justices will also decide the educational fate of nearly 4,000 Cleveland youngsters, most from low-income families. Each student receives up to $2,250 annually in public money to attend religious and other private schools in the city.

"This is a great opportunity for the justices to make a definitive ruling on school choice in America," said David Zanotti, chairman of the pro-voucher School Choice Committee.

Cleveland parents using the program agreed. Tony Kaloger, a parent who uses vouchers to send two children to St. Leo School on the West Side, said the program should be able to withstand judicial scrutiny.

"We're excited about the case reaching the Supreme Court because we think the Cleveland program is probably the best model for school vouchers," he said.

Voucher opponents yesterday also welcomed the high court weighing in.

"Finally, we'll be able to find out whether it is constitutional to have public funds pay for a program in which 96 percent of the students attend religious schools," said Michael Charney, professional issues director of the Cleveland Teachers Union.

The court will review three related cases involving the controversial pilot program that reached opposite conclusions about whether the program is constitutional.

The last of those rulings came in December when the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found the program unconstitutional because most of the children attended religious schools. Ohio Attorney General Betty Montgomery is appealing that ruling on behalf of the state, which administers the program.

The fate of Cleveland's voucher program, which began during the 1996-97 school year, could have an impact beyond local classrooms. President Bush made vouchers the centerpiece of his education platform during his campaign. The president's top lawyer, Solicitor General Theodore Olson, urged the Supreme Court to take the case.

"It would have been a crushing disappointment had the court turned this down," said Clint Bolick, of the Institute for Justice, a law firm in Washington, D.C., that champions conservative causes and represents families in the program. "We're optimistic that the court will recognize that the program is not about religion, it's about education."

Opponents of the plan are hopeful the high court will bury vouchers for good. The current court has declined previous chances to rule on voucher programs in Wisconsin, Maine and Vermont.

"Had the court declined to consider this case, vouchers would be finished in Ohio," said Ohio Federation of Teachers President Tom Mooney. "But it is a national issue - there are voucher programs and proposals in other states."

None of those arguments mattered much yesterday to the 11 children in Julia Roberts' first-grade class in the Boniface Building of Metro Catholic Parish School on Denison Ave. The children, wearing navy-blue pants or skirts and white shirts or blouses, all use vouchers. All were from the working-class neighborhood surrounding the school.

Catholic Diocese of Cleveland officials say they are glad the high court is hearing the case because the elimination of the program would almost certainly push some youngsters out of their schools.

"This news is especially welcome because the program provides choice in education to thousands of Cleveland's parents and children," said Sister Carole Anne Smith, schools superintendent for the diocese.

Not all parents were happy with their choice. Cleveland mother Deidra Pearson accepted a voucher to send her son, Austin, to a parochial school. But as a voucher parent, Pearson said, she felt shut out of her son's education, and the boy's grades have suffered.

She switched him to Giddings Elementary School, a public school, where he now makes A's and B's, she said.

"I have been able to come to the school at any time to visit the classroom, and with a welcoming smile from the teacher," Pearson said.

Critics of vouchers say the program is more a subsidy for private schools than an escape for children trapped in failing public schools.

This month, an analysis by Policy Matters Ohio, a Cleveland think tank, found that just one in five students in the program came from Cleveland public schools, and one in three students were already in private school when they received the voucher.

"The whole premise around rescuing children, I don't think they can win on that," said State Sen. C.J. Prentiss, a Cleveland Democrat and head of the Ohio Legislative Black Caucus. "It's just another drain on limited resources."

Still, some state lawmakers are trying to expand the program. Two bills in the Ohio General Assembly would increase the voucher payments for the Cleveland program to the same amount the state guarantees public schools for their students: $4,814. The plan: entice more non-religious private schools to participate.

"The intent is to bolster Ohio's case before the Supreme Court," said State Rep. James P. Trakas, an Independence Republican and sponsor of one of the bills.

Plain Dealer reporter Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.