School voucher programs come in many different sizes and shapes, but they all have one thing in common: the ferocious resistance they engender from those with a stake in the status quo. That opposition has borne fruit in Florida, where a state judge overturned a plan championed by Republican Gov. Jeb Bush, brother of George W. It serves as a timely reminder of what's at stake in the November election.

The decision in Florida has no direct implication for the fate of vouchers elsewhere. The judge reached the unsurprising conclusion that giving students the funds to attend private and parochial schools violated a provision of the Florida constitution mandating the state to provide for "a uniform, efficient, safe, secure and high quality system of free public schools."

The words he focused on were "free" and "public," paying no attention to the grim fact that many Florida schools are neither safe nor secure nor high-quality. The Florida program, which is the model for George W. Bush's education plan, offers vouchers only to the students most in need-- those in schools given a failing grade by the state education department.

This decision may not stand up on appeal, and in any case it's irrelevant to the broader question of whether vouchers for parochial education are compatible with the 1st Amendment. Critics say that letting public money be spent violates the separation of church and state--even though voucher-like programs allow government funds to be used for tuition at sectarian colleges and universities. The chances are at least even that the Supreme Court will let these experiments proceed.

They are an experiment, not a proven solution, but given the intractable failure of many American public schools, vouchers deserve a chance to show whether they can achieve what should be everyone's paramount goal--assuring every child a sound education in a safe and orderly setting.

Unfortunately, entrenched educational interests, particularly the teachers' unions, see this option as a threat to their own security and prosperity and have fought it tooth and nail. Never mind that among minority parents whose kids are often stuck in terrible public schools, vouchers are a popular idea.

Al Gore, who has pledged undying fealty to the AFL-CIO, can be counted on to oppose this innovation no matter what. George W. Bush, by contrast, has chosen to place interests of schoolchildren first--which is exactly where they should be.