Parents to get word sooner on transfers

Parents with students in one of 19 Sacramento City Unified schools that are struggling to meet federal standards will get earlier notice this year if their children qualify for transfer to a higher performing campus.

Under No Child Left Behind, school districts must tell parents each year about their right to move their kids out of so-called "program improvement" schools. In Sacramento City Unified, word typically has gone out by the federal Sept. 1 deadline. But with the time it takes to process parents' requests, the transfers don't take place until after the school year has begun.

This year, most Sacramento City Unified School District notices will begin going out in April, allowing students who change schools to start on their new campus at the beginning of the academic year.

"The timeliness was … inadequate," said Wanda Shironaka, the district's coordinator of state and federal programs.

The change was prompted by a federal audit of how Sacramento City Unified was applying some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, including the right of choice for students in program improvement schools.

Schools are labeled "program improvement" when they fail to meet federal targets for two years in a row. Schools that continue to fall short of federal benchmarks for more than two years face additional sanctions and ultimately can be taken over by the state.

Federal officials audited the state Department of Education for its No Child Left Behind compliance and also visited a few districts including Sacramento City Unified, said Maria Reyes, administrator of the state department's Title I policy and accountability office.

She said she was not sure why Sacramento City Unified was selected for the federal review. But the state department was asked to address potential problems at several other districts and within its own department as well. The state's formal response to the federal government, including a list of changes that have been made after the review, was approved by the State Board of Education last week.

During their visit to Sacramento City Unified, federal officials reviewed templates for letters the district sends out letting parents know they have the right to transfer their children to higher performing schools. They were concerned about the language of the letters, Reyes said, because they implied that limited space within the district could prevent transfer requests from being granted. That would be a violation of federal law.

At federal officials' request, Reyes said state authorities conducted a more thorough review of Sacramento City Unified's documents, as well as their process for handling transfer requests, Reyes said.

The issued ended up being limited mostly to language technicalities, she said.

"It was an inappropriate choice of words that concerned the U.S. Department of Education, that (the district) may in fact not be giving parents a choice in transfer because there may be no room in the schools," Reyes said. "That wasn't the case at all."

In addition to deleting language regarding capacity, the state asked Sacramento City Unified officials to include spaces where parents can list the names of alternative schools they'd like their children to attend. The state also asked the district to put a return address on the forms so parents can mail them in instead of being forced to hand-deliver them to school sites.

Because a school must meet federal benchmarks two years in a row to get out of program improvement, districts often can predict which schools will continue in the program the next academic year even before federal results are released in August.

In Sacramento City Unified's case, 19 of 23 program improvement schools are predicted to continue the program in 2008-09, so the district can send the choice letters out this spring, Shironaka said.

Parents of the remaining four schools will receive letters by Sept. 1 if August results do not show the progress needed to leave program improvement.

Whether the earlier letters will translate into greater participation remains to be seen. The number of parents and students exercising their right to school choice is low nationwide, according to officials.

In Sacramento City Unified, only 41 of 12,000 students eligible for a transfer asked for one. And only 23 followed through with the request, the district said.

Reyes, of the state department, said such low numbers emphasize the need for all districts – not just Sacramento City Unified – to make sure parents are being well-informed of their rights.

"In those situations, you always want to be concerned about: Are parents getting the information?" Reyes said.

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