Madison - With another hurdle jumped on Monday, the agreement to expand the limit on the number of students allowed in Milwaukee's private school voucher program is expected to face its final and most difficult test in the next several days.

Voting almost entirely along party lines, the Legislature's Joint Finance Committee rejected eight proposed amendments from two Milwaukee Democrats and backed the agreement between Gov. Jim Doyle and Assembly Speaker John Gard on an 11-5 vote.

That paves the way for the Senate and Assembly to take up the agreement. Assembly passage is expected to come fairly easily, but the vote in the Senate could be a squeaker, perhaps turning on a single vote.

The twelve Republicans on the finance committee stuck together Monday in rejecting all proposed changes in the agreement, including several that would have lessened the impact of the voucher program on Milwaukee property taxes and that would have required students using vouchers to attend private schools to take the state's standardized tests.

Even two of the four Democrats on the committee - state Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Madison) and state Sen. Russ Decker (D-Schofield) - did not support proposals to change the funding of the voucher program to help with the property tax impact on the city.

State Sen. Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee) said that, with amendments, the agreement could really help Milwaukee children, but without, it would hurt the 85,000 children in Milwaukee schools, as well as the city's tax picture.

"It's a sad day when you say you are coming to the aid of Milwaukee's children when you are hurting Milwaukee's children," she said.

But Sen. Luther Olsen (R-Ripon) told the committee before the votes, "Any amendment here could be the killing of this bill. It may not make it better, it may make it dead."

Olsen called the agreement "a ray of hope, and we can't let that ray of hope die."

All the rejected amendments came from Taylor and state Rep. Pedro Colón (D-Milwaukee).

The agreement between Doyle, a Democrat, and Gard, a Republican, broke a logjam over how to handle issues raised by the voucher program hitting its current cap and the possibility that thousands of students would be forced to switch schools next year.

The agreement calls for raising the limit on the voucher program from under 15,000 students to 22,500 and adding provisions to the law aimed at dealing with weak private schools. It also includes an increase of $12.5 million a year in spending on the statewide program called SAGE, which promotes smaller class sizes for children in early grades in public schools.

Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett has been pushing to get help for the city in paying for vouchers. He points to figures showing that Milwaukee property taxes go up $1,000 every time a student switches from Milwaukee Public Schools to a private school using a voucher, while the state gains $3,000.

But his views brought no change from the committee.

State Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah), co-chair of the committee, said, "It seems to me he (Barrett) has a legitimate beef." Kaufert said the issue "seems to have some legs" and will need to be taken up sometime - many insiders point to next year's state budget process - "but today's not the day."

As expected, Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay), a critic of the SAGE program, broke with his party on the final vote, signaling that there were Republicans who oppose approval of the agreement. With 17 votes needed to pass the bill in the Senate and 19 Republicans in the body, the number of Republicans who do not vote in favor could become crucial. Only one Democratic senator, Jeff Plale of South Milwaukee, has said he supports the agreement.