State lawmakers want to create a place of constancy in the tumultuous lives of Florida's 20,000 foster children and 45,000 juvenile delinquents. That place? Private schools.

Under legislation that passed a House council Wednesday, foster children and youths who have left the juvenile justice system would be eligible for $3,750 scholarships annually to attend private schools, where they can remain even if they change homes and school zones. Another bill passed in the council would allow disabled students to use scholarships for home education instead of private school.

'The hope and inspiration is maybe we can provide an island of stability in their lives while they're in the foster care system,' said John Kirtley, a longtime school-choice advocate and president of the Tampa-based Florida Education Freedom Foundation.

The corporate tax-credit scholarships, which were passed in 2001 as part of former Gov. Jeb Bush's vouchers push, work by allowing corporations to receive dollar-for-dollar tax credits when they donate to funds that pass out scholarships to low-income students.

That current program, and a similar one for students with disabilities, are what remain of the state's voucher options after the state Supreme Court last year struck down the Opportunity Scholarship Program, which allowed students attending failing schools to go elsewhere on the state's dime.

BIG-PICTURE ARGUMENT

Although the new tax-credit bill expands only the pool of eligible students rather than the number of spots in the program itself, the support for these programs after Bush's tenure shows that part of his legacy lingers in the Capitol -- along with the criticism and constitutional questions it evoked.

The program has been praised for saving the state money by doling out less in scholarship tax credits than would have been spent on per-student public school funding. One study showed it saved $140 million in five years and that per-student funding has increased. But critics say the savings are estimated with fuzzy math that school-choice advocates use to support an unpopular program.

'By their theory, if all of the kids were given these vouchers, the schools would be flush with money without any students,' said Ron Meyer, an attorney who represented the teachers union in its lawsuit against the Opportunity Scholarships.

He added that polling has shown that the public doesn't support the use of public money to pay for private education.

Critics have also said that the programs undermine the public school system, both in principle and by taking students with the most involved parents out of the school. They worry that private education isn't held to the uniform standards that public schools are, which is a requirement of the Florida Constitution. That was the meat of the Supreme Court decision ending Opportunity Scholarships.

HOUSE DEBATE

Lawmakers' reaction to vouchers legislation this session has brought out passion on both sides of the issue. At Wednesday's council meeting, Rep. Dorothy Bendross-Mindingall, a Miami Democrat, tried to link a slowing in state funding for public schools with the advent of vouchers, but her ideas were rejected. 'We are giving an opportunity to low socio-economic students that would never, never have this opportunity,' said Melbourne Republican Rep. Thad Altman.

The larger question -- where vouchers are headed now that Bush, their No. 1 proponent, is out of office -- is so far going unanswered. Gov. Charlie Crist said on the campaign trail he would support a constitutional amendment that would protect school choice, and House Speaker Marco Rubio supports the idea as well. But so far no one has moved to make it happen. Nor has there been a proposal to increase the funding for tax credits, which are now capped at $88 million a year.

But Kirtley is confident the programs will survive. He believes the parents of the 17,000 children in the program will gradually convince their representatives in Tallahassee to protect and improve Florida's voucher programs.

'One by one we're connecting legislators with their constituents,' Kirtley said. ``They are of such large number, and they are of such fervent support, that I think legislators run large risks voting against them.'