BATON ROUGE— Louisiana's school choice voucher program, 'LA Gator,' began taking applications last month, but there are questions about how much money will be available.

State Sen. Rick Edmonds, R-East Baton Rouge, pushed the LA Gator law through the Senate.

"It now has over 30,000 applicants that are lined up," Edmonds said.

Initially, the program was supposed to receive the same funding that went towards the previous school voucher program, more than $43 million dollars. This year, Governor Jeff Landry's proposed budget set aside an additional $50 million dollars, and the grand total is about $93.5 million.

"This is a nationally recognized program," Edmonds said.

State Rep. C. Denise Marcelle, D-Baton Rouge, says she doesn't support giving public funds to private schools.

"I mean who wouldn't sign up for free private schools, but I wouldn't support that," Marcelle said. "I don't see us giving an additional $50 million when everything else is running short in our state."

Students who receive the scholarship can use the money for tuition and school materials. In three phases, different sets of students will become eligible for the scholarship. After three years, any Louisiana student can apply.