But even if students struggling in poor-performing schools didn't have admissions obstacles, other obstacles would remain.

Washington's charter school measure would have allowed nonprofit groups to create up to 45 charter schools over six years and convert some poor-performing public schools to charters.

While liberal civil rights groups generally oppose school vouchers, polls show that many low-income African-Americans, especially those with children in poor-performing public schools, support the concept.

When report cards began, many in education worried that they would do more to stigmatize poor-performing schools than to improve them.

"It's not generally a healthy thing to issue lists of poor-performing schools," said Mr. Litow, who is to be chief operating officer under Mr. Fernandez.

A1 Florida Vouchers Upheld A Florida appellate court ruled that the state could use taxpayer-financed vouchers for students in poor-performing schools who cannot afford private-school tuition.

A Florida appellate court ruled today that the state could use taxpayer-financed vouchers for students in poor-performing schools who could not afford private school tuition.

In May 1999, Mayor Giuliani advocated in favor of education vouchers, proposing to allocate several million dollars to allow poor children attending poor-performing public schools to attend private schools.

Or do they simply stigmatize poor-performing schools and give politicians a handy weapon for railing against the educational system, as many complain they do?

"I will make sure that every single poor-performing school and parent in Harlem knows about this program," Canada said back in February.