TALLAHASSEE -- The Florida Supreme Court threw out the state's voucher system that allows some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools.

Thursday's 5-2 opinion struck down the Opportunity Scholarship Program, championed by Gov. Jeb Bush, effective at the end of the current school year. It was the nation's first statewide system of school vouchers.

About 700 children across Florida are using the program to attend a private or parochial school after transferring from a public school the state considers to be failing. The ruling did not directly affect nearly 30,000 students in two other voucher programs for disabled and poor children, but it could be cited as a precedent.

Only three Broward County schools qualified for Opportunity Scholarships this year: Arthur Ashe Middle in Fort Lauderdale, which received Fs in 2004 and 2005, and Lauderdale Manors in Fort Lauderdale, which received Fs in 2003 and 2005, and North Lauderdale Academy Charter, which got Fs in 2003 and 2004. Three other elementary schools -- Sunland Park in Fort Lauderdale, Park Ridge in Pompano Beach and Markham in Pompano Beach -- would have qualified if they received an F grade this year.

In Palm Beach County, 91 students attend private schools on Opportunity Scholarships, down from more than 110 in recent years. Seven county schools had been eligible to participate in the program, including two that were added before the start of the school year: Delray-Boynton Academy and Riviera Beach Academy. Those two schools, which were recently converted from charter schools to alternative schools under the school district's control, received Fs in 2004 and 2005. Another five other schools (three charter, two alternative) with F grades in recent years would have been eligible this year - if they were unable to avoid a second F.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Barbara Pariente, writing for the majority, said the program ``diverts public dollars into separate private systems parallel to and in competition with the free public schools,' which are the sole means set out in the state constitution for educating Florida children.

Private schools also are not uniform when compared with each other or the public system and they are exempt from many standards imposed by law on public schools, such as mandatory testing, she added.

The ruling was a victory for public schools across the state and nation, said Ron Meyer, lead attorney for a coalition that challenged the voucher program.

``Students using vouchers will now be welcomed back into Florida public schools,' Meyer said in a statement. ``It decides with finality that the voucher program is unconstitutional.'

Justices Kenneth Bell and Raoul Cantero, both appointed by Bush, dissented. Justice Peggy Quince, who joined the majority, was jointly appointed by the late Gov. Lawton Chiles and Bush, then governor-elect, in 1998. The other justices were appointed by Chiles, a Democrat.

``Nothing in the plain language or history of article IX (of the Florida Constitution) requires a finding that the Opportunity Scholarship Program is unconstitutional,' Bell wrote in the dissent.

Bell contended there was no evidence the voucher program violates the article's purpose to ``ensure that every child in Florida has an opportunity to receive a high-quality education by requiring the Legislature to make adequate provision for a uniform system of free public schools.'

Anticipating the possibility of such a decision, Bush has been working on a backup plan to keep voucher students in private schools by providing tax credits to corporations that give students scholarships. That would eliminate the direct transfer of public money to the private schools.

Former Education Commissioner Jim Horne, now a lobbyist, was meeting with Bush when the governor was told of the ruling. He said he plans to join Bush in finding a way to preserve the voucher program.

``We need to look at how we fix it. Too many children are being helped by this program. I can give you example after example,' Horne said. ``Some children, for a variety of reasons, the public system doesn't work for them and parents have to seek other kinds of alternatives, and there's nothing wrong with that.'

Bush is planning an afternoon press conference to address the ruling.

Clark Neily, senior attorney for the Institute for Justice, who argued the case for voucher advocates, said they hope other programs for getting children into private schools could be expanded to pick up students who lose their opportunity scholarships.

Those programs include giving tax credits to corporations that give scholarships to poor children and a separate voucher program that allows disabled students to attend private schools at public expense.

``Ultimately, we remain committed to the idea that parents and their children should have as many options as possible in choosing where to go to school,' Neily said. ``This decision is a setback for those parents and children trapped in failing schools.'

The 1999 law previously had been ruled unconstitutional by the 1st District Court of Appeal on grounds that it violated the separation of church and state in the Florida Constitution as most of the voucher children are in parochial schools.

The high court found no need to address that issue after finding vouchers violate the public education provision. The law was challenged a day after Bush signed it.

More than a dozen groups filed ``friends-of-the-court' briefs in the case, ranging from the U.S. Department of Justice, supporting the state, to the International Reading Association, supporting the voucher opponents.

Those opponents include the Florida Education Association, the state teachers union; the Florida PTA; the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; and the League of Women Voters.

The state's other voucher programs include the McKay scholarships, which gives state money to 16,300 disabled students to attend private schools, and another that gives businesses tax credits for providing private school scholarships to poor children. About 13,500 children use that program.

State Sen. Rod Smith, a Democratic candidate for governor, said he was certain from the beginning that the voucher program eventually would be struck down.

``What we must do to is to stop hair-brained schemes of funding (private) schools and focus on adequately funding the public schools,' Smith said. ``That's what our constitution requires of us and our taxpayers expect of us.'

The Florida Supreme Court struck down the state's voucher system that allows some children to attend private schools at taxpayer expense, saying it violates the state constitution's requirement of a uniform system of free public schools.

Staff Writers Chris Kahn & Marc Freeman contributed to this report.