California: School Choice Falling Short. Push for private vouchers may intensify

Los Angeles Times ^ | August 17, 2002

[John Jorsett]

A severe shortage of classroom space in large urban school districts is undermining a new federal education law's promise to give 3 1/2 million poor children the choice of better public schools this fall.

One of the key features of the "No Child Left Behind" law, touted by the Bush administration as a remedy for ailing schools, offers students from low-income families the opportunity to switch from troubled campuses to better ones in the same district.

But in the Los Angeles Unified School District, where nearly 230,000 youngsters qualify for transfers at public expense, there are as few as 100 seats available in better schools. Similar shortages are expected to limit access to top schools in New York, Chicago, Baltimore, Sacramento and other cities.

School administrators and others say the new decree will not better the prospects of the vast majority of low-income students in more than 8,600 struggling schools identified by government officials.