The state's 'No Child' report is coming late

Parents this fall aren't getting much chance to transfer their children out of so-called underachieving schools at taxpayer expense.

That's because the state won't know until Thursday how many schools met No Child Left Behind requirements imposed by the federal government.

Parents are supposed to receive reports before the school year starts.

That means Utah is out of compliance with NCLB, just months after rattling chains by passing a law challenging NCLB's reach into state education rights.

But state and district leaders aren't worried about losing money over it.

They say the NCLB report is coming out earlier than ever. And some district testing chiefs worry that faster reporting could sacrifice accuracy.

Still, in the end, low-income children are losing out, advocate Michael Clara said.

"You're giving parents a choice in September to make a decision for that year, and the school has already started for that year," Clara said. "(That's essentially) robbing parents of the opportunity to put children in a school where they can get an education."

No Child Left Behind aims to ensure all children, regardless of race, income or disability, read and do math well by 2014. Progress toward the goal is measured every year.

States set their own plans to hit the target, including tests students will take — in Utah, it's the CRTs at the end of the school year — and how high they must score. The U.S. Department of Education signs off on the plans.

Plans also include how states handle low-income schools receiving Title I funds. If they miss the mark for two consecutive years, they are put on "school improvement," which brings a series of actions until they turn things around.

Utah's plan says districts will designate schools as needing improvement "before the beginning of the school year following failure to make (adequate yearly progress)."

Utah students took the CRTs last spring, so the designations should have been made and letters offering transfer options to parents in under-performing low-income schools sent out by now.

But they haven't.

And some wonder if they ever could be.