A few weeks ago, Pam Adams received a letter in her mailbox announcing a new statewide school voucher program.

Eager to find a better education for her two children, Adams jumped at the chance for more information.

After a tour and meeting with the principal of New Covenant Christian Academy in Walton Hills - the closest participating private school - she decided to send her children there in the fall.

She won't know if her applications for vouchers are approved until the state sends out notifications in a few weeks. If they are, the $6,500 tuition bill for both children will be completely covered by the state.

"It makes me feel better about their education," Adams said of 8-year-old Mark and 9-year-old T'ara, who last year went to John Dewey Elementary School in Warrensville Heights. "It's difficult to pay for private school."

Mark and T'ara are among 126 Cleveland-area students and 2,568 students statewide who have already applied for the new Ohio EdChoice voucher program.

The state legislature last year expanded vouchers far beyond Cleveland by allocating money for 14,000 renewable scholarships. Children who attend low-performing public schools will get up to $4,250 a year for elementary school tuition and $5,000 for high school tuition at participating private schools.

Originally, eligibility was limited to students whose schools have been in "academic emergency" (the lowest of five state rankings) for the past three years. In March, the state expanded the program to include students in schools under "academic watch" (the next-lowest ranking) for three years.

That change pushed the number of eligible students in the Cleveland area from 300 students at Glenbrook Elementary in Euclid to 10 times that many at five different schools.

Students at Forest Park Middle in Euclid, Russell Hobart Middle in Painesville, and Shaw High School in East Cleveland can apply, in addition to those at Glenbrook and John Dewey. A second application period will run from July 21 to Aug. 4.

Though less than 6 percent of the 46,000 eligible students applied in the first period, voucher supporters are not discouraged. The Ohio EdChoice program has the highest first-year participation rate of any voucher program in the country, said Clint Bolick, president of the Phoenix-based Alliance for School Choice.

"It has been an extraordinary turnout," Bolick said.

"The start-up period is always slow. The concept of school choice is very unfamiliar to most people."

Nationally, the first-year participation rate averages 1 percent of eligible students, he said.

Mature programs generally have 15 percent to 20 percent of eligible students enrolled.

Cleveland has had a voucher program since 1996, and more than 5,800 students used it to attend private schools during the last school year.

The state expects to provide about 1,280 new scholarships for the fall in Cleveland, good for up to $3,450 a year, based on school tuition and family income.

Last year 1,686 new scholarships were awarded, and 1,069 students used them, said J.C. Benton, spokesman for the Ohio Department of Education.

Thirty private schools in the Cleveland area are accepting vouchers through Ohio EdChoice. More than half of them are Catholic, and almost all of the rest are Christian, Islamic or Jewish schools.

Demand from parents led Catholic schools to decide to participate, said Mary Lou Toler of the Cleveland Catholic Diocese's office of education. So far, diocese schools have accepted 80 students.

Lutheran East High School in Cleveland Heights also is in the program.

Families of the 10 students who have met the school's admission requirements will still have to pay $1,800 to cover the difference between a voucher and tuition.

With an enrollment of about 165, the school has struggled to boost its size. But the small numbers are part of what is attracting parents, said Principal Clarence Griffin.

"They relish the opportunity to be in a smaller class environment, to have that individualized attention in a Christian environment," he said.

For information on the Ohio EdChoice Scholarship Program, go to www.ode.state.oh.us/School_Finance/ecs/default.asp.