The movement to give parents a choice as to what schools their children attend is gaining momentum — at least outside of New York State. Ever since the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of school vouchers last summer, things have been progressing at the state level on both the judicial and legislative fronts. There are still provisions in the constitutions of dozens of states that could prevent state money from funding vouchers to private and religious schools, but groups like the libertarian Institute for Justice are challenging these anti-Catholic provisions in court with some success. At the same time, lawmakers in Colorado, Texas, and Louisiana are moving toward establishing statewide voucher programs.

Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Florida are currently the only localities with programs that allow parents to spend their tax dollars on both religious and secular schools for their children. These programs focus on the poorest children in the worst schools. Partially this is based on urgency, and partially this is a tactic meant to make vouchers more politically palatable in a climate chilled by teachers unions. Colorado, which is the government closest to following Cleveland, Milwaukee, and Florida by passing a voucher program, is following this standard playbook. There are two bills in the Colorado legislature — one in the long-Republican House, the other in the newly Republican Senate — and both would essentially give vouchers to low-income students in low-performing schools. Texas, where Republicans control both houses for the first time in more than a century, is considering a similar program. The Republican governor of Louisiana, Mike Foster, supports vouchers, and a bill is await ed. The Republican governor of South Carolina, Mark Sanford, campaigned on vouchers, and a bill is also awaited in that state. Even New Hampshire has a bill on the way.

So far, Colorado and Texas have seen prominent support from minorities for the idea of adopting vouchers. In Colorado, the Democratic and Hispanic attorney general, Ken Salazar, has broken ranks with his party to support vouchers. In Texas, one of the main proponents of vouchers is an African-American state representative from the Houston area, Ron Wilson, who supports vouchers for the neediest children. “If the school choice idea has any merit at all,” Mr. Wilson told Education Week recently, “it will provide some kind of outlet for those children.” All of this movement, according to a senior education analyst for the Heritage Foundation, Krista Kafer, originated with the Supreme Court’s decision in Zelman v. Simmons-Harris.” Right after the decision, a number of legislators said we want to get a bill out there,” she told The New York Sun yesterday.” Now we’re actually seeing legislation and seeing it move.”

Unfortunately, the impact of the Zelman decision has yet to make itself felt in New York, as the Empire State is firmly in the grip of its powerful teachers unions. The only bit of movement — and it is slight — comes in a modest education tax-credit bill that has been introduced in the state Assembly and Senate. The bill has 18 sponsors in the Senate and 11 in the Assembly, and would provide a modest tax credit for 50% of the value of donations to public schools (including charter schools), school districts, and scholarship funds that pay for private schools. Under the bill, individuals could get up to $250 for a $500 donation, and corporations could get up to $25,000 for a $50,000 donation.

The bill does not allow donations directly to private schools, however, because, as one of the architects of the bill, the president of United New Yorkers for Choice in Education, Timothy Mulhearn, told us, “That would be the kiss of death…You have to be public-school friendly in Albany.” It seems it will be some time before New York enters into the bold experimentation going on in other states, no matter what doors the courts open. But as other states and cities make progress, and see results, don’t expect inertia to prevail.