Despite their growing appeal among parents, private-school vouchers have achieved virtually no support at the national level since the Bush administration and, until recently, not much more in state legislatures, which have been debating the issue for more than 20 years. Ballot initiatives have fared no better, failing decisively in Michigan (1978), Oregon (1990), Colorado (1992) and California (1993). To create a choice for parents, cities and states have more often allowed them to enroll children in any public school, the case in New Mexico, and have approved more charter schools, which now number 1,700 around the country, up from several hundred a few years ago. The oldest of the voucher programs paid for with public money is Milwaukee's, in effect for 10 years, offering families that fall below certain income levels vouchers worth up to $4,894 a year. Cleveland's five-year-old program uses other income levels to offer vouchers worth up to $2,250. In Florida, which last year became the first state to approve a statewide measure, each public school is graded annually for overall academic achievement, and any child attending a school that has been judged to be ''failing'' two years in a row becomes eligible for $3,500 from the state. Programs in Minnesota and Arizona take a different approach, offering tax benefits for dollars invested in education. In Minnesota, families making less than $37,500 with children in public or private schools are eligible for $1,000 per child, to a maximum of two, as reimbursement from the state for certain educational expenses, including textbooks, tutors and computer equipment. All families are eligible for tax deductions for tuition costs. In Arizona, residents who donate to ''student tuition organizations,'' which distribute money to needy families, can deduct the full amount of the donation from their taxes. Despite formidable political opposition, proponents of vouchers in other states are pushing ahead. Twice in the last three years, Gov. George W. Bush of Texas supported a proposed pilot program for students at low-performing schools. The legislation failed both times, but its sponsor, Senator Teel Bivans, an Amarillo Republican, intends to introduce it again when the legislature returns next year. Mr. Bush continues to support vouchers as a Republican presidential candidate. In Pennsylvania, another Republican governor, Tom Ridge, has failed four times since 1995 in efforts to push through legislation that would provide state money to children for private or parochial schools. A spokesman said the governor would keep trying through the end of his second term, in 2002. Seven years after California's first ballot initiative on vouchers failed, supporters are trying again, collecting signatures to get a measure before voters in November. An initiative is also being developed in Michigan. In Kansas, lawmakers are considering a pilot voucher proposal that would aid 300 children even though Gov. Bill Graves, a Republican, has clearly indicated he is ''less than enthusiastic'' about voucher programs of any kind, according to his spokesman. Here in New Mexico, Governor Johnson has made vouchers a hallmark issue, convinced that ever-increasing spending on state public schools -- $1.6 billion was proposed this year, almost half the budget -- has not produced significant improvements in student performance. Last year, he refused to sign a budget that did not include a voucher program and called in legislators for a special session to iron out their differences. Facing Democratic majorities in both chambers, Mr. Johnson finally signed a package that did not include vouchers, but he succeeded in creating new visibility for what he says is inevitable. This year, Republicans in the House and Senate introduced his proposal again, and in the governor's State of the State address this month, the voucher issue was the first he mentioned. ''Every state screams out about every single problem in education and asks what they should be doing,'' Mr. Johnson said in an interview. ''By all measures, we're doing just a little bit worse year by year by year. But vouchers is the right vehicle, and ultimately you are going to see school reform based on choice happen.'' Mr. Johnson conceded that he did not expect the measure to survive the legislature again this year. But with all 112 state lawmakers facing re-election in November, ''I want to make this the campaign issue this year,'' he said. That prospect delights parents like Ms. Paiz and Elena Maldonado, who enrolled her daughter, Laura, 12, in the Abundant Life school two years ago because of gang activity and drugs at her public elementary school. Ms. Maldonado said she was a Democrat who planned to vote for Vice President Al Gore, a voucher opponent, in the presidential election. But she vowed to vote against her state legislators, who are Democrats, if they did not support a voucher program. State Senator Linda M. Lopez, a Democrat from southwest Albuquerque, voted against the program last year but said she would keep an open mind, especially if she heard from more people like Ms. Maldonado. But whether New Mexico or any other state approves a voucher system might ultimately depend less on local politics than on the United States Supreme Court. Seven months after the Ohio State Supreme Court ruled last year that the Cleveland program was constitutional, a Federal district judge ruled it unconstitutional. The critical issue is whether vouchers financed by taxpayers violate the separation of church and state when they are used for religious schools. An appeals court is reviewing the case, but experts say any ruling would most likely be taken to the Supreme Court, which may be ready to consider the voucher issue after refusing to hear appeals of rulings that the programs in Milwaukee and Arizona were constitutional. ''If the Supreme Court rules that the Ohio program is constitutional, that could change everything,'' Mr. Metcalf said. ''It would certainly open the door for virtually all of the 20 to 25 states considering legislation to push this through more quickly.''