Rex Anne Miller believes in school choice, so the Clinton mother of two was excited when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. earlier this month signed the nation's most expansive school voucher program into law.
    But Miller's investigation into school vouchers, available in theory to every Utah family, has left her skeptical.
    The private school where her children are enrolled in preschool programs seems to have little, if any, accurate information about how the program will work.
    "I'm not so sure this is the right answer," Miller said. "There are so many unknowns."
    Despite the fanfare, Utah's landmark voucher program will not provide universal access to private schools. The reality is more complicated. More than a third of Utah's private schools are too small to be eligible to participate, and several have decided not to accept vouchers.
    Because private schools set their own enrollment requirements, students can be turned away for any number of reasons.
    Space, even in the state's extensive Catholic school system, is limited. And tuition often costs thousands more than the poorest families would receive through vouchers.
   
    Limited money and space
    Utah is home to roughly 120 private schools, which enroll more than 16,000 students, according to data gathered by the State Office of Education, but only 75 of those schools enroll enough students to participate in the voucher program, and most of those are along the Wasatch Front.
    Tuition ranges from $2,200 to nearly $15,000 a year. Realistically, only low-cost parochial schools are within reach of the poorest families armed with a $3,000 voucher. For affluent families, a $500 voucher is unlikely to sway their private school decision, officials at the priciest schools said.
    Scholarships are often available to families in need. And tuition vouchers may free up more of that funding by eliminating scholarship needs for families on the fence. But a flood of parents seeking assistance could also drain scholarship coffers and pressure schools to find more financial aid, said Todd Winters, admissions director at the exclusive Waterford School in Sandy.
    Utah's 14 Catholic schools house roughly a third of the state's private school students and are nearly full. Officials estimate about 350 empty seats in the Catholic system - not including the new St. Andrew's to be built in Riverton.
    Limited money and space makes expansion unlikely for most Catholic schools, according to Sister Catherine Kamphaus, superintendent of Utah's Catholic school system. Most sectarian private schools report a handful of empty seats in middle school and few open spots in elementary school. They tend to have waiting lists for preschool and kindergarten classes.
    That could be a problem for parents viewing vouchers as their ticket in. Preschoolers in private schools will be eligible to use vouchers in the fall and will get first dibs on kindergarten seats.
    A few schools report plenty of room for more students. Some have said they would consider expanding if vouchers spark demand and others already have expansion built into their strategic plans. The Waterford School, for one, aims to add 200 seats in the next 10 years.
   
    Equality not guaranteed
    Utah's voucher law bars private schools from discriminating based on students' race, nationality or ethnicity. Beyond that, they can set their own criteria for accepting or rejecting students.
    Sectarian schools usually set standards similar to college admissions requirements. They look at a combination of test scores, academic performance, recommendation letters and family philosophy. A typical example is Rowland Hall, which selects students deemed to be college-bound.
    "In the third or fourth grade, if they're struggling to read on grade level, they're not going to make it here," said Alan Sparrow, head of the school.
    Religion tends to drive enrollment decisions at parochial schools, which typically accept members of the faith they serve before offering seats to others. In Catholic schools, for example, Catholics from the parishes associated with each school get priority, followed by Catholics from other parishes, then non-Catholics.
    "We do discriminate on religion," said Kamphaus, the superintendent.
    Public schools must serve all students, regardless of ability or disability, but that is not so for private schools. Some simply don't have the resources to deal with moderate disabilities, let alone more severe developmental or behavioral disorders.
    In fact, Utah's voucher application will include a disclosure that private schools "may not provide the same level of services" as public schools. It also says parents accepting a voucher effectively refuse special education services required by federal law.
    Concerned for students' best interests, several private schools said students with serious disabilities may not be best served by their schools.
    "If a child is just behind on a grade level, then that's not necessarily a concern," said Susan Brady, director of St. Sophia Hellenic Orthodox School in Holladay. "But something like a child with autism or who is severely visually or hearing impaired - we wouldn't be able to serve him effectively."
   
    Schools wary of signing on
    Most schools contacted by The Salt Lake Tribune said they will participate in the voucher program. Catholic schools, the state's largest private school system, are expected to do so.
    Other schools said they need to study the law before deciding whether to sign on.
    But Challenger schools - a network of 21 schools in four states - will not accept vouchers at six Utah campuses. Its leaders have philosophical concerns with Utah's law but also worry Utah's voucher program may lead to increased state and federal oversight of private schools.
    "The thing that worries us is over time, government regulators like to regulate more, not less," said Clint Kirry, Challenger's Utah marketing manager. "Until we see how it's gonna shake out, we're really reticent to accept [vouchers]."
    Most private schools are already signing up students for fall classes, but the State Education Office won't have a list of eligible voucher schools until July 1. As administrators work to set up an application process and implement the program, parents and school officials are left studying the law on their own.
    "We don't know where to go and the schools don't necessarily have any answers," said Miller, the mother of two.
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    * ROXANA ORELLANA contributed to this story.
   
    * A closer look at private schools and Utah's school voucher program. A4
    * ELIGIBLE STUDENTS: All current public school students, students in any type of school who qualify for reduced-price lunch and all incoming kindergartners.
    * ELIGIBLE SCHOOLS: Must employ college-educated or skilled teachers, operate outside a residence, enroll at least 40 students and not discriminate based on race, color or national origin. They must give parents the results of a standardized test once a year and submit to a financial audit once every four years.
    * HOW IT WOULD WORK: Vouchers will range from $3,000 per child for families who qualify for reduced-price lunch ($37,000 annual income for a family of four) down to $500 for families earning 250 percent more ($92,501 or more a year). Money would be transferred directly from the State Office of Education to the private school parents choose.
    * PROJECTED COST: $9.3 million in the first year; $12.4 million in the second.
    * WHAT'S NEXT: The State Office of Education will work to implement the program so it can begin this fall, barring a legal challenge.