She said at Children First Utah the average family of four that qualifies for the scholarships makes less than $25,000 a year. And half of last year's 2,000 applicants at Children First Utah were from minority families.

"The (voucher program) is clearly favoring low-income families — those are the people who are really going to want to access vouchers," Barker said.

She said the families that are most likely to participate in the voucher program are those who are least satisfied with public schools — west side, low-income schools — who live in lower income areas.

She said if anything, vouchers would help break up the segregation that already exists in those high-poverty high-minority areas, providing funding that would allow students to attend a school that could serve them better.

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