School vouchers are all about equality, backers say. But Denver school officials say a voucher bill before the legislature treats their district very unequally.
The bill sponsored by Rep. Nancy Spence, R-Centennial, would offer the chance to attend a private school at public expense to some students who reside "in a school district whose boundaries are coterminous with a city and county or in a school district that has chosen to participate."

That "city and county" phrasing means only Denver would be forced to participate. Colorado's 177 other school districts could opt in or out. Spence said she wanted to name Denver in the bill, but that would violate the state constitution's ban on "special legislation" that applies to a named entity.

But Spence said she thinks Denver schools are letting their 72,617 students down.

"There's only one district this applies to," Spence said. "The largest concentration of low and unsatisfactory schools is in the Denver district, so obviously they would be my target audience."

Spence said she added the opt-in phrase only when voucher advocates said families in places such as Colorado Springs, Pueblo and Greeley might want to participate.

Denver Public Schools officials are furious at Spence for making DPS look bad just weeks after Gov. Bill Owens named it "most improved district."

"There's no reason that Denver should be singled out," said DPS school board chief Elaine Gantz Berman. "If the intent is to focus on unsatisfactory schools or students, then that should apply to unsatisfactory schools or students throughout the state."

Spence said she wasn't surprised that Denver leaders were upset at her, since she didn't talk to them about her bill. But she said they should embrace the measure, which creates "opportunity contracts" allowing the district to send students to independent and religious schools.

Five hundred students would be eligible the first year, 2004-05. The number could rise to 3 percent of DPS' population three years later.

Spence introduced her bill Monday, but to avoid a fight with DPS, she said she may amend it to apply to more districts.

Other school-choice bills this session don't involve geography the way Spence's does. Several use a means test. For example, a tax credit sponsored by Rep. Keith King, R-Colorado Springs, applies to kids in families earning up to twice the federal poverty level.

Meanwhile, a bill by Sen. John Evans, R-Parker, calls for universal vouchers - total school choice for all kids statewide regardless of financial need.

Legislators have found ways around the ban on special legislation before, said Jane Urschel, government affairs director at the Colorado Association of School Boards. Past bills on other topics have targeted particular districts and even schools without naming them, she said.

There are good and bad points to Spence's bill, Urschel said. Involving Denver in a pilot is the best way to find out if getting kids out of public schools really boosts their achievement, she said.

But DPS will lose 75 percent of the per-pupil funding for every child in the pilot, jeopardizing programs already in place for underprivileged kids, she said.

"It seems a shame that we're trying to increase student achievement ... but we're going to severely decrease the funding and the resources to make that happen," Urschel said.