Seeking a dramatic expansion of one of the most controversial measures of his administration, Gov. Jeb Bush proposed Thursday allowing local school districts to offer private-school vouchers to students in overcrowded classrooms.
Bush's proposal, which needs approval from the state Legislature, comes two days after he repeatedly complained that the $3 billion first-year cost of the new class-cap measure voters approved in November cast a dark cloud over the rest of his proposed 2003-04 state budget.

The governor's vision: Districts could unload students to private schools for less money than it would take to educate them in public schools.

''It's a cost-effective way of dealing with this issue,'' Bush said. ''Many [districts] won't take it, but so what? That option ought to be there for them to consider.'' The politically charged proposal -- which drew immediate fire from Democrats and the sponsor of the class-size measure, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek -- was just one of more than a dozen suggestions the governor made Thursday as he unveiled a vision of how the state should move ahead on the class-cap measure.

Constitutional Amendment 9 requires the state to provide enough money to enable public schools by 2010 to cap kindergarten through third-grade classes at 18 students; fourth-through-eighth grade at 22; and high school at 25.

'If there was any evidence of a 'devious plan' as he referred to before the election to undermine class-size, this would be one of them,'' quipped Sen. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Pembroke Pines. ''It's totally inappropriate to empty classrooms by sending kids to private schools. That's not what the voters voted for.''

KEEN OPPOSITION

It is far from certain that the governor's proposal would pass muster with the Legislature in its spring session. While Bush could use his bully pulpit to lobby middle-class families on the issue, he faces keen opposition from Democrats and some Republicans who are concerned the current voucher program undermines funding for public schools.

A sign of how tough his fight could be: Even though a House Republican, Stan Jordan of Jacksonville, filed a bill promoting the voucher expansion earlier this month, he has yet to attract a Senate sponsor.

''I see this as part of the whole Amendment 9 lip-licking of the governor,'' Meek said. ''He's going to be trying to get some of the things he's wanted for years in the process.''

Should Bush succeed, he would fundamentally shift the voucher debate in Florida to locally elected school boards, where middle-income parents wanting help with private school tuition might easily sway a decision.

But just that political reality could kill the measure, Meek argued, and even voucher supporters conceded privately Thursday. School boards that start offering vouchers may have a hard time fashioning them in such a way that they would be available only to current public-school students. Parents of students already in private schools could argue they deserve vouchers too, increasing the cost of the program.

''I'm not sure that's legal,'' Broward Schools Superintendent Frank Till said. ''The amendment doesn't say vouchers.''

The state's voucher programs are already under legal fire. A Leon County judge ruled last year, in response to a lawsuit by the state teachers' union, that the first of three state voucher programs violates the state Constitution because it directs public dollars to private, parochial schools. Bush has appealed the decision.

So far, about 1,500 students have used the vouchers, which Bush's administration calls ''Opportunity Scholarships.'' The $4,000 vouchers are available to students attending a public school that has been deemed as ''low-performing'' for two out of four years.

Under the law, the voucher must cover the full-cost of private school tuition to be used.

OTHER PROGRAMS

But the state has really seen a boom in voucher use in two lesser-known programs aimed at disabled children or low-income families.

The McKay Scholarships have allowed 8,082 disabled children to attend private school on the state's dime.

And the Corporate Income Tax Scholarship gives businesses a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for each $3,500 scholarship they donate to a plan that helps low-income families afford private school tuitions. About 15,000 students have taken advantage of those vouchers, which can be used either as full payment for tuition or as a subsidy, with the family paying the rest of the private-school tuition.