Pro-Voucher Forces Waging Uphill Battle in California

By Lynn Olson

WHITTIER, CALIF.--If there is anyplace where the school-voucher initiative on the California ballot next month could be expected to play well, it is among the predominantly religious-school parents who have gathered here at the Trinity Lutheran Church to hear a debate on the subject.

Proposition 174, which would give parents tax-funded vouchers to help pay for their children's private or parochial school education, has become a lightning rod for the vigorous ideological debate about school choice nationwide.

But talks with these and other parents in the Los Angeles area suggest that people's opinions are based on personal experiences and feelings about the public schools that defy demographic,...