TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Florida's statewide teachers union will sue to keep off the ballot two proposals designed to expand vouchers that let students attend private schools at public expense, the group's spokesman said Wednesday.

The proposed state constitutional amendments are designed to undo a pair of court rulings striking down one voucher program and protect others existing now or created in the future from similar legal challenges.

Both amendments were placed on the November ballot by a state panel that meets every 20 years.

"The Taxation and Budget Reform Commission exceeded its authority in putting on a couple ballot initiatives that don't relate to budgeting or taxes," said Mark Pudlow, spokesman for the Florida Education Association.

The union also will challenge one of the amendments on grounds it had not been listed on the commission's agenda, Pudlow said.

He said the union will sue in Circuit Court here within a couple weeks but the case may eventually go to the Florida Supreme Court.

A union lawyer had raised the same issues in testimony before the commission. Voucher supporters then said the proposals are budget related because the state could save money by offering vouchers worth less than it spends on each student in public schools.

Commission Chairman Allan Bense, a former House speaker, also ruled the amendment not on the panel's agenda for its last meeting on April 25 could be considered under the agenda's "other business" listing.

That proposal, Amendment 9, is in response to a Supreme Court ruling that struck down a voucher program that let students from failing public schools attend private schools at taxpayer expense. Critics say it could be interpreted to require that the state offer vouchers.

The Supreme Court ruled the failing school vouchers, a key part of former Gov. Jeb Bush's school accountability program, violated a constitutional provision that requires a uniform system for free public schools. The justices said the Opportunity Scholarship Program set up a second system of schools with different rules and regulations.

The amendment would allow the state to fulfill its responsibility for educating Florida's children through means other than the uniform school system.

Another provision would require school districts to spend 65 percent of their budgets in the classroom.

The other voucher-related ballot proposal, Amendment 7, would repeal a constitutional provision prohibiting the state from providing financial aid to churches and other religious organizations.

An appellate court cited that ban when it also ruled against the opportunity scholarships because many of the voucher students were attending parochial schools. The Supreme Court, though, did not consider that issue.

Bense did not immediately return a call left on his cell phone seeking comment.