Two years after a Tallahassee judge struck it down as unconstitutional, Gov. Jeb Bush's original Opportunity Scholarship voucher program is on the brink of its largest expansion yet, potentially tripling in size to 1,800 students.

And for nearly two years, the appeal of that decision has languished in the 1st District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, becoming the oldest unresolved case the court tracks - that despite a Sept. 5, 2002 promise from judges that the case "shall be expedited."

It's unclear why the judges have not yet ruled. The average case is resolved 324 days after an appeal is filed.

Oral arguments in the voucher case were heard March 18, 2003.

Of the 3,444 active cases before the court, only nine were on a list sent to the state Supreme Court on July 6 as still unresolved more than 180 days past oral arguments. And of those nine, the voucher case was the oldest by more than four months.

Court rules prohibit judges from discussing their cases. Through a spokesman, all three of the judges who heard the voucher case declined comment.

The case's slow progress through the appellate court has worked to the advantage of voucher proponents.

Advocates of all three of the state's voucher programs hoped to enroll as many voucher children as possible as quickly as possible, some proponents said privately. That way, if a court at a later time ruled the programs unconstitutional, it would be forced to order hundreds and preferably thousands of children out of private schools, giving voucher proponents a big public-relations coup.

If the appeals court ruling comes prior to the start of school next month and affirms the lower court, about 600 children who had attended private schools on vouchers last year and were eligible again this year would be affected. But if a ruling comes after classes begin, it could force some 1,800 students out of their schools, should the court uphold the trial court.

"I think the District Court of Appeal would be doing everyone a great favor by weighing in on this," said Ron Meyer, one of the lawyers representing voucher opponents.

The Opportunity Scholarship program was Bush's first school voucher. It was created in 1999 as part of his "A-plus" education package that grades students and schools and gives private school vouchers to children in repeatedly failing public schools.

That year, when opponents including the state's teachers union sued Bush over the plan, a total of 58 students in Pensacola received vouchers and took them to five private schools.

By the time Leon County Circuit Judge Kevin Davey ruled that the vouchers illegally sent public money to religious organizations on Aug. 5, 2002, the program was on the cusp of expanding from 44 remaining Pensacola students to 435 students in four counties. That expansion continued because the state automatically won a stay of Davey's ruling when it appealed his decision to the 1st DCA on Aug. 7.

A year ago, with the addition of failing schools in two more counties to the list, another 200 students received the vouchers. And this year, with schools in three more counties getting "F" grades in their second of four years, the parents of 1,182 students have indicated they intend to use private school vouchers for the year that starts next month.

In 2000 and 2001, lawmakers and Bush created two other voucher programs: the McKay Scholarship program for disabled children and the Corporate Tax Credit program for poorer children.

Both programs are much larger than Opportunity Scholarships: 12,396 children took McKay vouchers during the 2003-04 school year, and 11,552 received corporate vouchers.

All three programs have been criticized by Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher for poor oversight and abuse.

Bush, nevertheless, stood by the further expansion of the failing school vouchers when he unveiled the school grades last month that made such an expansion likely. Bush, in his five and a half years as governor, has appointed three of the 15 judges on the 1st DCA.

Among those three, only one, Judge Ricky Polston, was among the judges who heard the voucher case.

Voucher critics privately grumble that another of Bush's three appointees, Paul Hawkes, in 2000 actually worked for Bush in his Office of Policy and Budget before serving as chief of staff to former House Speaker Tom Feeney, who in 1994 was Bush's running mate in his first run for governor.

Hawkes, 47, also declined to discuss the case through a spokesman.