Public School Choice Program

What is the purpose of the public school choice provisions of NCLB?
Public school choice is a component of NCLB because it offers a student enrolled in a Title I school that is identified for school improvement, corrective action, or restructuring an opportunity to attend a public school that has not been so identified. Together with the school improvement activities undertaken under Title I, public school choice can provide all students in low-performing Title I schools – including students with disabilities and limited English proficient students – the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.

Who is eligible to participate in School Choice?
Eligible students are all students from low-income families who attend Title I schools that are in their second year of school improvement, in corrective action, or in restructuring. Eligibility is not dependent on whether a student is a member of a subgroup that did not make AYP or whether a student is in a grade that takes the statewide assessments required by Section 1111 of the ESEA.

If the funds available are insufficient to provide School Choice to each eligible student whose parent requests those services, an LEA must give priority to the lowest-achieving eligible students. In this situation, the LEA should use objective criteria to determine which students are the lowest-achieving. For example, the LEA may focus services on the lowest-achieving eligible students in the subject area that resulted in the school being identified for improvement, corrective action, or restructuring.

“Provision 2” and “Provision 3” of the National School Lunch Program allow schools that offer students lunches at no charge, regardless of the students’ economic status, to certify students as eligible for free or reduced price lunches. For the purpose of identifying students as eligible for School Choice, school officials may deem all students in Provision 2 and Provision 3 schools as “low-income.” However, LEAs must give priority to serving the lowest-achieving eligible students if the level of demand for School Choice exceeds the level that available funds can support.