Special Populations
Public School Choice
Overview
Parents whose children attend low-performing Title I schools must be given opportunities to transfer their children to a higher performing school.
This public school choice provision of the No Child Left Behind Act is one of several key strategies for achieving a high-quality education for all students. Another is Supplemental Education Services (SES).
Details about public school choice are available from the Public School Choice Non-Regulatory Guidance (January 2009) (which can be downloaded here).
Additional information about public school choice can be found in Bulletin 111, Chapter 25 (which can be downloaded here).
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Parent Outreach
School districts must provide timely, accurate notice to parents regarding opportunities for public school choice. This notice must:
- Inform parents of eligible children of the option to transfer their child to another public school not identified for improvement
- Tell parents of eligible children that their child may receive transportation to the school
- Provide details about the available options as far in advance as possible, but no later than 14 days before the start of the school year
- Identify each public or charter school that parents may select
- Include information on the academic achievement of the schools that parents may select
In addition, the notification must:
- Be in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language that parents can understand
- Be provided directly (e.g., regular mail or email) and through broader means of dissemination (i.e., the Internet, print or broadcast media and public agencies serving the student population and their families)
- Be provided sufficiently in advance of, but no later than 14 calendar days before, the start of the school year
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Choice Information on the Web
To ensure that parents have current information on their public school choice and SES options, school districts must include on their Websites such information as:
- The number of students who were eligible for and who participated in SES and public school choice, beginning with data from the 2007-2008 school year and for each subsequent year
- A list of available schools to which students eligible for public school choice may transfer for the current school year
School districts or charter schools which do not have Websites may post this information on the Louisiana Department of Education's Website.
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Choice Implementation Reports
In accordance with Bulletin 111, the Louisiana Department of Education requires each school district to submit Choice Implementation Reports. These reports focus on district efforts to "develop and implement procedures to increase options for School Choice and increase student participation."
The Choice Implementation Reports are submitted to the Department at various times during the school year. At the end of each quarter, the reports are compiled and submitted to BESE for their review.
For the 2009-2010 school year, the deadlines for submitting School Choice Implementation Reports to the Department are:
- First Quarter: September 14, 2009
- Second Quarter: December 4, 2009
- Third Quarter: March 12, 2010
- Fourth Quarter: June 4, 2010
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