As the board meets today, a group of voucher opponents will be trying to gather enough signatures to put the Parent Choice in Education Act on hold and force a public vote of the issue. And even if the law survives that referendum push, several lawmakers worry a three-line provision in last-minute legislation amending Utah's voucher law may make the law moot.

"We may have a flawed voucher bill," Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, told the Senate as it debated amendments that Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. signed into law Tuesday.

The heated nationwide debate over school vouchers migrated to Utah last month when the Legislature passed the nation's broadest voucher program. As early as this fall, parents of any Utah public school child may be able to use state tax dollars to help pay for private school tuition.

Although opponents call vouchers an irresponsible use of public funds, supporters say such programs help disadvantaged students and buoy public schools by fostering competition.

Yet Stephenson and others worry three lines in Utah's law will quell incentives to open new private schools. The provision says participating private schools must have working capital totalling at least 80 percent of quarterly expenditures.

That means schools must have enough cash or liquid commodities on hand to pay nearly three month's worth of bills. Such clauses are designed to make sure schools have enough money to avoid shuttering mid-year, said Paul Winward, an auditor at Squire & Company PC, which audits several Utah school districts.

Some say such a high bar will disqualify too many schools.

"There's not a business I know of that has 80 percent working capital in the bank," Senate Majority Leader Curtis Bramble said during last week's debate.

But private schools aren't like other businesses and several Utah schools would have no problem meeting the provision. The trouble, three administrators said, would be for schools just starting up, leasing space or dealing with an enrollment lull.

"If the intention is that a school will have enough cash to operate through the end of the year, I don't think 80 percent is the right number," said Grant Beckwith, principal of American Fork's American Heritage Academy, which he said could "quite easily" meet the provision.

"This really goes to the heart of what types of schools the Legislature intends for these voucher students to be able to attend," he said. "If they only intend for students to go to the more established private schools, they've got the right number."

Rep. Steve Urquhart, the St. George Republican who sponsored the bill, said the 80-percent cutoff came from the 2006 parent bill, which was crafted through input from several stakeholders.

"Personally, I do think it's too high," he said.