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.
The following schools are identified as Program Improvement Schools:
Canyon Crest, Cypress, Date, and Palmetto, Randall Pepper,
Redwood, and West Randall Elementary Schools
and Almeria, Fontana, Ruble, Sequoia, Southridge, and Truman Middle Schools.
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