The Bush administration will provide funding for private school vouchers in the District only if city officials agree to the program, U.S. Education Secretary Roderick R. Paige said yesterday.
But later in the day, an Education Department spokesman held open the possibility that a nonprofit organization in the District could serve as a conduit for the voucher program if city officials refused to participate.

"A nonprofit organization in the city might be an entity that would get the grant," spokesman Dan Langan said.

A spokesman for Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) said yesterday that the mayor does not want the voucher program, which would give public funds to parents so their children could attend private schools. D.C. Council members also reiterated their opposition to the proposal. Their comments came a day after Education Department officials said the Bush administration's fiscal 2004 budget proposal contains about $ 756 million in school choice programs, with a small portion of the money to be used for a pilot voucher plan in the District and several other cities.

Education Department officials said they plan to meet with D.C. officials this week to discuss the proposal. "We're going to be suggesting they do this," Paige said in an interview. "We're going to work hard to get them to agree to this."

But D.C. officials said they would rather forgo the additional funding than use it for vouchers.

"The mayor is not going to commit the District to any voucher initiative," said spokesman Tony Bullock. "He is opposed to vouchers. The council is opposed to vouchers. Vouchers are not on the table."

Vouchers generally have been supported by Republican lawmakers as an option for low-income families whose children attend low-performing public schools. Proponents often argue that vouchers encourage improvements in traditional public schools by giving parents more options and creating more competition.

But D.C. Council member Sharon Ambrose (D-Ward 6), who is on the council's education committee, said she was concerned that vouchers would lure active families out of the public schools, making it harder for them to improve.

"Vouchers . . . could siphon off your most motivated families, leaving behind the neediest kids, whose families don't have enough motivation to go after the money and spend it properly," she said.

Council member Kevin P. Chavous (D-Ward 7), chairman of the education committee, said the city already offers extensive school choice because of charter schools, which enroll more than 11,000 students. Charter schools are publicly funded but operate independently of the D.C. school system, which enrolls about 67,500 students.

Chavous said there is no indication that D.C. residents are clamoring for vouchers. "You have to have a groundswell from the bottom up and not from the top down," Chavous said. D.C. school board members also oppose vouchers.

Paige said parents in the District want more educational options. He said the competition that vouchers would foster is "a necessary condition for authentic school reform."

The details of the Bush administration's proposal are vague. Paige could not say how much the vouchers would be worth, the number of students who could take part in the program or the total amount of money that would be set aside for the District.

The voucher program for the District would be funded from a pool of $ 75 million that the administration has proposed for seven or eight pilot programs across the country. Although other school systems, as well as states, would have to apply for the program, the administration has set aside one of the pilot programs for the District.

Langan emphasized that the administration is "in the first days" of discussions about the program. "We are working on the details of this program," he said. "But the secretary believes strongly in empowering parents to select the schools that are best for their children."

Yesterday, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) announced that he would introduce legislation to provide public funding for D.C. students who want to attend private or public schools outside the city.