On the plus side, private school choice — Milwaukee-style, that is — empowers poor parents and prods a lethargic, unresponsive public school system to reform. On the minus side, the program lacks accountability and raises the troubling issue of church-state entanglement.

Lawmakers should minimize the minuses. The accountability problem can and should be fixed. Church-state entanglement is a thornier matter. Better accountability, however, would make the entanglement more palatable. The state should adopt a recommendation by voucher backer Howard Fuller and others — a long range study of choice, exploring how comparable choice and non-choice students are over many years.

Nurtured here for 10 years, choice has grown from a fragile seedling to a robust tree and the winds have spread its seeds afar. Right now, the winds, political and legal favor the proponents of choice. Their ranks have swelled. And just the other day, three U.S. Supreme Court justices, in approving the expenditure of public funds for equipment at sectarian schools, gave what looked like a wink to religious school choice.

Our middle-of-the-road stance has been open to the use of public funds at private schools so long as they are not religious. In recent weeks, we have re-evaluated that stance with the help of powerful spokesmen from both sides of the issue.

The voucher proponents have the better argument. Giving poor families the choice that others enjoy makes for a fairer society. What's more, the competition thesis seems to be panning out; choice has spurred reforms at the phlegmatic Milwaukee Public Schools.

The sticking point remains the religious entanglement. But without the heft that religious schools provide, the program would give parents only a meager choice and public schools only meager competition. After all, religious schools make up the bulk of the program.

The principle of church-state separation is too dear to abandon altogether. But an exception might be in order if the state:

*Keeps the program targeted at poor families. Only the most dire need can justify punching a hole in the church-state wall. The expansion of education options to poor families trapped in unresponsive school systems might qualify. Vouchers for families that already enjoy the education option money brings certainly don't.

*Bolsters the rule that schools allow choice students to opt out of religious activity with procedures that better guard against state support of religious indoctrination.

*Strengthens the accountability features of the program — perhaps by requiring accreditation, standardized tests and a long-range study of choice's impact.

To keep the momentum on their side, choice proponents must take steps to make this meshing of church and state more palatable.