Bush's twin daughters have attended both public and private schools, and are now seniors at Stephen F. Austin High, a public school about two miles from the Governor's Mansion near downtown.

"We're the oldest tax-supported school in the state of Texas," says Tina Juarez, Austin High's principal, adding that the 2,200-member student body is among the city's most diverse.

Before Bush's 1994 election as governor, he was managing partner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Daughters Jenna and Barbara attended a public elementary school and then the private Hockaday School in Dallas, his campaign says.

When he became governor, the girls were in the seventh grade. They entered the private St. Andrews Episcopal School in Austin, which mother Laura described as the best choice to ease a transition that included a new school, a new city and a father who was the new governor.

One and a half years later, they opted for a public school with the motto, "Everybody is somebody at Austin High."

According to the Texas Education Agency, the school's 2,219 students last year included 1,250 whites, 761 Hispanics, 161 blacks, four Native Americans and 42 Asian or Pacific Islanders. And 519 qualified as economically disadvantaged.

"We have the whole gamut from the students on the low socioeconomic level to the very high socioeconomic level," Juarez said.

The public-and-private school path followed by Bush's daughters also has been used by the children of his likely Democratic presidential rival, Vice President Al Gore.

When Gore was in the Senate, his four children attended the same public elementary school in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Va., that their mother, Tipper, attended as a child.

In their middle-school years, their three daughters transferred to Washington's National Cathedral School for girls, sister school to the St. Alban's boys' school where younger brother Albert III transferred while in elementary school. He is now a junior at Sidwell Friends School, another private school, which President Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, also attended.

Bush's daughters are on track to graduate this spring, said Andy Welch, a spokesman for the Austin Independent School District.

Barbara spent the fall of 1998 studying in Italy before returning to Austin High, said Scott McClellan, spokesman for Bush's presidential campaign. She received credit at Austin High for the foreign study program, Welch said.

Despite their governor-father, the principal says the girls have had a typical high school experience. "They're just like anybody else," Juarez said. "They don't act differently. They're just teen-agers."

And yes, parent George W. has attended school functions. "He attended some of our activities and activities where the girls have been recognized," Juarez said.

While differing on some key education issues, the Bushes and Gores share a reluctance to discuss their children's education.

The Gores have said such decisions are private. In a recent campaign debate, Gore stiffened when a moderator asked about sending his children to private schools while opposing tuition vouchers to help poor families do the same.

"You know, you can leave them out of this if you want to," he snapped.

Since entering public life, the Bushes also have tried to guard their daughters' privacy.

"We've tried to shelter the girls. They don't give interviews, and they don't come to events unless they want to. ... Their life in Austin has been normal; Laura and I are grateful that the media has respected their privacy," Bush wrote in his 1999 autobiography.

As governor, Bush failed to persuade the Texas Legislature to support even a pilot program of tuition vouchers.

In his bid for the White House, he has proposed removing federal Title 1 money aimed at poor children from states and school districts that do not improve student test scores over three years. The money would go directly to parents in $1,500 vouchers that they could then use to pay private school tuition, hire a tutor or attend another public school.

"The mission of this plan is to make sure public schools improve so kids don't have to change schools," said Bush spokeswoman Mindy Tucker. "But in cases where they don't, he feels it's very important for their children to have a choice."