Private-School Groups Postpone Quest for Vouchers

By Julie A. Miller

WASHINGTON--Private-school groups have apparently dropped for the time being their active quest for a voucher plan that would use federal funds to help children attend private schools, fearing a high-profile defeat on the issue in the Congress.

Private-school lobbyists are also worried that partisan enmity stirred up by their advocacy of school choice could deny them participation in new education-reform programs, some sources say, and even make it difficult for them to influence next year's reauthorization of most major precollegiate-education programs.

Some private-school advocates are urging Congressional supporters not to propose a voucher program as an amendment when a school-reform bill is considered in the House later this month, according to...