District fretting over student-transfer law

By Emily Richmond (contact)

Wednesday, June 12, 2002 | 11:10 a.m.

Clark County School District officials are scrambling to comply with the new federal No Child Left Behind law, which gives parents at five low-performing schools the right to have their children bused to a better campus at the district's expense.

At least 100 families have already asked to take advantage of the new law when the school year begins in August. District officials say the number could grow in the next week and balloon in future years as new test standards will likely make more students eligible to leave their schools.

The law, touted by President Bush, has set off a fierce debate over educational choice in Clark County.

Supporters of the law say it will improve accountability and give parents more control over how their children are educated. Critics question whether the law will only drain funds -- and dedicated parents -- away from the schools that need them the most, hampering any chance for improvement.

Mary Kayne Heinze, media relations director at the Center for Education Reform in Washington, said this morning the new law holds public schools accountable to their "customers" --- parents and children.

"Parents now have a mechanism to escape failing schools," Heinze said. "This isn't punishing the schools. It's the children who are punished when they're forced to stay in sub-standard academic environments."

But school district officials say the law will redirect money from improving schools to busing, which could mount as federal standards could mean more parents have the choice of having their children sent to other schools.

The cost of busing the students will likely be at least $100,000 of the district's Title I funds that would have otherwise gone to improve the struggling schools, district officials said. The federal Title I designation is based on the number of children in a school who qualify for free and reduced-cost meals. Title I money pays everything from teacher salaries to supplies.

"I can appreciate what President Bush is trying to do, and commend him for wanting to improve education," Clark County School Board President Sheila Moulton said. "However, I have serious concerns about unfunded mandates. The money that we'll have to spend in order to be in compliance with the new law will have to be taken away from some other worthwhile endeavor."

Clark County schools that scored poorly on last year's statewide proficiency exam made the list -- Tate, Carson, Ronnow and Lynch elementary schools, as well as Bridger Middle School. Ronnow and Lynch are managed by Edison Schools Inc. Bracken Elementary School also made the list but isn't part of the voluntary transfer program because the campus is being converted to a magnet school in August.

With Clark County's crunch for classroom seats, the new law could mean long bus rides for some students come August when the change takes affect.

"There are certainly going to be some logistical problems to solve in moving these students," said Mark Lange, director of grants and Title I compliance for the school district. "We're going to figure of what's the next-closest school that's not only doing well, but has available seats."

Letters were sent to parents of existing students at the schools as well as children zoned to begin attending in August, Lange said. Parents were supposed to return enclosed postcards by today, although the deadline has been extended to the end of the week, Lange said. So far, about a hundred families have requested the transfers, he said. District officials predict they'll have at least one bus full of children to transport from each of the five campuses, Lange said.

The number of Clark County schools on the list could increase in the coming years. By 2005, public schools nationwide will also have to meet national test score and proficiency standards or face penalties. The law requires school districts to shell out up to 5 percent of its Title I funds for the busing, Lange said. The Clark County School District receives about $28 million a year in Title I funds, which would mean a maximum of $1.4 million would have to be spent on busing, he said.

Some administrators questioned the effectiveness of the new law.

"I don't see any way that this is going to help the schools," said Doug Wilson, principal of Ronnow-Edison Elementary School in Las Vegas. "At the same time, I don't know what the alternative is."

So far, Ronnow is the only school that hasn't had a transfer request submitted, Lange said.

For the purposes of the new law, a school is designated low-performing if scores on statewide proficiency exams continually lag. The Nevada State Department of Education also has a list of low-performing schools, but there's a critical difference in the formula used to calculate status. At the federal level, all students' scores are counted. At the state level, schools may request that scores for non-native English speakers be discarded.

At Ronnow, about 60 percent of the students are designated as English Language Learners (ELL), Wilson said.

The percentage of Clark County students for whom English is not their native language has grown from 12 percent in 1996 to nearly 20 percent last year, according to district records.

Under the federal formula, if schools do not submit test results from ELL students, the score is tabulated as a zero, said Kathy St. Clair, director of Title I programs for the Nevada State Department of Education.

"That's a huge incentive for schools to include every score, because no matter how poorly a student performs its still likely to be better than a zero," St. Clair said.

Beginning with the 2003-2004 academic year, schools will also have to meet new federal standards of improvement for various sub-groups of students, including non-native English speakers and special education students, St. Clair said.

"We're looking at new rules and requirements that could potentially have a huge impact on our educational systems in Clark County and statewide," St. Clair said. "What no one knows yet is whether that impact will be positive or negative."