BATON ROUGE, La. -- Louisiana lawmakers appear to be more than willing to let taxpayers fund private school tuition for some students in the state -- but only in New Orleans and within certain limits.

A school voucher proposal strongly pushed by Gov. Bobby Jindal's administraton and already approved by the House won easy approval in the Senate Education Committee on Thursday. If the measure makes it through the full Senate, it would OK Jindal's proposal to spend up to $10 million in state money to send up to 1,500 children in New Orleans to private schools. It would affect children in kindergarten through third grade from families earning no more than 2.5 times the federal poverty threshhold -- meaning about $53,000 in annual income for a family of four.

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Louisiana taxpayers could be paying for vouchers for private schools in New Orleans.

Jindal's staff has been lobbying hard for the bill and so far has overcome stringent opposition from traditional voucher opponents, including public school administrators, teacher unions and others who say the $10 million would be better spent on public schools.

The strength of school voucher opposition was still evident earlier Thursday when the same House Education Committee that had narrowly approved the Jindal-backed New Orleans voucher plan rejected a statewide K-3 voucher program in a 14-2 vote. The bill was by Rep. Patrick Williams, D-Shreveport.

Rep. Patricia Smith, D-Baton Rouge, said private school students don't do any better than public school students in Louisiana's pre-kindergarten program, which covers both.

Opponents of the New Orleans voucher plan have no such argument. Most of the city's public schools have performed poorly for years; so poorly that, after Hurricane Katrina devastated most of the city in 2005, then-Gov. Kathleen Blanco and the Legislature approved a state takeover. Now must public schools in New Orleans are run by the state or by private charter organizations.

Improvements since the takeover were evident when fourth- and eighth-graders' Louisiana Educational Assessment Program test scores were released a few weeks ago. Still, more than half of the students failed and Rep. Austin Badon, D-New Orleans, the House sponsor of the Jindal plan, said it proves the need for the voucher program in New Orleans.

State Sen. Jack Donahue, R-Mandeville and a member of the Senate Education Committee, said three beliefs underpin his support for the Badon bill and a similar measure by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans: that the state-run school system in New Orleans is starting to work; that at least some children in New Orleans schools deserve an alternative now; and that eventually there will be no need for the program and it will "die off" if the New Orleans system does continue to improve.

Badon agreed. In an interview he stressed his support for public education and said lawmakers might someday decide not to fund the voucher program if they decide it is not working or no longer needed.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)