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SANTA CRUZ — Area voucher backers hailed a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that public money can be used to pay for students to attend private or parochial schools.

"It keeps alive the possibility for change and opportunity for the poor to have access to education they don’t have access to now," said Santa Cruz political activist Martha Montelongo Myers.

But a leading state education official, also a Santa Cruz resident, called the decision "meaningless" for California.

The federal OK doesn’t mean a voucher plan could pass state constitutional muster, said Reed Hastings, president of the state Board of Education. Nor does it guarantee the political will to implement such a system, he said.

"California voters have twice overwhelmingly rejected the concept," Hastings said. State voucher initiatives failed in 1993 and 2000.

Myers, who worked for the pro-voucher campaign in 2000, said the issue was on the "back burner" in California, but the ruling "keeps hope alive."

"Right now, the only people who can choose (schools) are people who can afford to live in neighborhoods and communities that have excellent schools," she said. "Only vouchers level the playing field."

An estimated 11 percent of the county’s estimated 40,000 school-age children attend private schools, according to county education officials. The top five private schools, by enrollment, are Monte Vista Christian, Baymonte Christian, Green Valley Christian, Gateway Elementary School and Moreland Notre Dame.

Establishing real choice in the state would put pressure on public schools to improve student achievement, she said.

Hastings isn’t so sure. Results of limited programs so far have been "inconclusive," he said. And while Myers favors a pilot program in a city like Los Angeles or Oakland so that Californians can see how vouchers work, Hastings would prefer to see how they play out elsewhere.

"If it turns out there’s a material increase in student achievement, I don’t know who would be against it," he said. "But there’s no reason for California to experiment. ... We experimented with electricity deregulation. In this round, I’d rather see other states experiment."

Vouchers do pique the interest of at least some private school parents, however. Todd and Luanne Korver of Scotts Valley make financial sacrifices to send their daughter to Baymonte Christian School there. Todd Korver said he’d appreciate government help, and since vouchers might cost less than what the state pays to educate students in public school, he’d save taxpayer money, too.

"I believe a voucher system would give control to parents," he said.

But Janine Charton, an active Scotts Valley Middle School parent, said she doesn’t believe vouchers can guarantee choice, because private schools can reject students.

"The choice ends up being with school administrators, not parents," she said.

Charlton believes parents should strive to improve public schools.

"We need to focus on ways to help the majority of our school-age children, instead of subsidizing a much smaller minority for private education," she said.

Contact Donna Jones at djones@santa-cruz.com.

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