Leslie Newsome is headed to a troubled Columbus middle school this fall.

She would like to use a voucher to attend a private school, but she can't.

Leslie, 11, just ended the year at Siebert Elementary, which is a pretty good school, and that's what matters under the Ohio EdChoice Scholarship program law. Students who attend pretty good schools don't qualify.

Now that the South Side girl is headed to Southmoor Middle School, vouchers are out of her reach, even though the school has a poor rating.

Vouchers are off limits to hundreds of other children, too, because state law says students seeking vouchers are eligible only if they are enrolled in and actually attended a school rated "academic watch," a D in the state ratings, or "academic emergency," an F.

"We got really excited when we heard she could get a voucher," said Tanesha Newsome, Leslie's mom.

"I was just heartbroken when we found out. I will have to get a second job to send her (to private school)."

It's another problem with the new statewide voucher system, parents and educators say: poorly written legislation shutting out needy students.

"It's backward. It kind of defeats the intent," said Philip Glende, principal of St. Paul Lutheran School, where Leslie wants to go this fall.

"It's the school where you're going to that has the impact. If you're coming from a good school and going to a bad one, (vouchers are) not going to relieve that. If you're in a bad one currently but going to a good one, then you would qualify."

The Ohio Department of Education says parents in Newsome's situation probably won't be helped by a second application period, which will run from July 21 to Aug. 4.

The legislature was aware that students headed to bad schools, but not currently in one, wouldn't qualify for vouchers, said Kim Murnieks, who oversees the EdChoice program for the department.

The Education Department has fielded several calls from concerned parents, Murnieks said, but there's no immediate recourse for them. The department will make suggestions to the legislature this fall on how to improve the program, she said.

Last week, some schools complained that private-school parents were enrolling their children in struggling public schools they didn't intend to send them to in hopes of using state money to pay tuition.

The Education Department is leaving it up to school districts, including Columbus, to decide whether the new enrollees are valid.

Murnieks said that although interest in the new program grew slowly, Ohio's statewide program caught on more quickly than some other well-known voucher programs, such as those in Milwaukee and Washington, D.C. In Ohio, roughly 5.5 percent of all eligible students applied.

"In general, even though there were some (negative reports) ... it generally went very well," she said. "There were parents who engaged in the system and parents who became more involved in their students' education."