Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA)
On December 10, 2015, President Barack Obama signed into law a new set of regulations for the federal Title I program. Under the previous regulations, known as No Child Left Behind or NCLB, parents at schools designated as Program Improvement, were given the opportunity to apply for their student to be transferred to a non-PI school.
Under the new regulations, called the Every Student Succeeds Act or ESSA, the NCLB School Choice transfer program is no longer available. Schools will no longer be designated as Program Improvement. The California Department of Education will determine if a school is not meeting improvement goals and if they aren’t meeting the goals, the State will designate an intervention for the school.
ESSA will not fully take effect until the 2017-18 school year, however, as part of a transition to the new law, new NCLB School Choice transfers will not be offered in the 2016-17 school year. Students who received NCLB School Choice transfers in previous years will be allowed to attend their choice school with transportation until they have completed the highest grade at that school.
If you are interested in learning more about ESSA and how Title I programs, including SES, may be affected by this new law, several websites are listed here:
http://www.parentcenterhub.org/repository/essa-reauth/
If you have additional questions about Title I programs or the transition to ESSA, please contact the State and Federal Programs office at 916-643-9051.