Choice requires information

Utah's federally mandated No Child Left Behind reports are behind schedule. Parents are supposed to receive the reports before the school year starts so they have an opportunity to transfer their children out of underachieving schools. Unlike Utah's school choice law, the federal law requires school districts to pay transportation costs for students transferring out of schools that don't make the mark.

Considering that the school year started in July for some students (but in late August for most), the NCLB reports will provide little assistance to parents who want to exercise school choice for this school year. Sure, Utah law permits parents to enroll their child in any public school they want, space permitting. But for low-income families in particular, transportation is a major impediment to choice.

Many local school district officials say it is logistically impossible to meet the NCLB report deadline, which came earlier this year than ever. They fear that a rush job would compromise the accuracy of the reports.

Parents obviously need accurate information to make decisions about school choice. But they also need it in a timely fashion so they can enroll their child in a different school if they choose. It does not escape notice that other states met the new deadline while Utah, which has actively challenged the federal government's role in state education rights, did not comply with this requirement of NCLB.

While child advocates have groused about school districts missing the deadline, the fact remains that few Utah parents have exercised choice under the federal option, which was required in 16 Utah schools last year. Of 6,325 students eligible for transfers, only 79 exercised the option.

This could be interpreted a number of ways. Parents may be more comfortable with their children attending a neighborhood school. Attending a different school may disrupt some working parents' child-care arrangements. Perhaps parents do not fully understand that the federal option includes transportation. Or parents who are motivated to seek other choices for their child have already placed them in other schools.

Whatever the reason, parents need tools to make the best decision on behalf of their children's education. Hopefully, some changes can be made locally or on the state or federal levels to ensure parents receive in a timely manner the most accurate information possible.