COLUMBUS — The state's school voucher program is no different from government grants that allow students to attend private colleges, Attorney General Betty Montgomery said in a brief filed Friday with the U.S. Supreme Court.

        “The central focus of this program is to permit families trapped in a failing public school system access to the same educational opportunities as those available to middle- and upper-in come households,” she said, comparing vouchers to Pell Grants and the GI Bill.

        The filing followed the Supreme Court's decision last month to hear a challenge to Ohio's voucher program, which operates only in Cleveland.

        A group of Cleveland parents sued the state after the legislature in 1995 approved a pilot program that offers scholarships up to $2,500 to low-income students. It allows the children to attend private schools.

        Opponents say the program saps public schools' money and violates the constitutional separation of church and state because most of the program's 3,700 children attend parochial schools.

        A federal judge in 1999 ruled that the program was unconstitutional and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last year upheld the ruling.

        Voucher opponents plan to file briefs before the end of the year, said Tom Mooney, president of the Ohio Federation of Teachers.

Bengals' turf battle with county not over
PULFER: Do the Bengals hate us?
Parking plentiful for football, concert
Convention center plan scaled back
Mom arrested in kidnapping
'Over-vote' ballots not counted
Police may face federal charges in deaths
Added significance for Veterans Day
Kentucky events honoring veterans
Ohio events honoring vets
McNUTT: Veterans deserve our thank-yous
Veterans Day closings
Byrd defender asks out of case
Drug ads use language to make point
Local Digest
West Chester holds annual celebration
Beechmont Mall put up for sale
Bush orders more Guard to airports
Chabot to join U.N. delegation
Congrats
Evil never wins, diplomat says
Jury acquits teacher of theft
Kids OK after close call in fire
Lucas hails postal workers
SAMPLES: Things go right in one little world
Bus garage burglarized
Children see tools of war, talk to veteran
Kentucky Digest
Officials hope to launch Ky. bus tours
Kentucky picks first inductees into Music Hall
Molloy promises change
Commissioner charged in fight
Humans lead rare birds on how-to migration
Ohio to check money transfers
Traficant pleads innocent to revised federal charges
Vouchers likened to college grants