Under the No Child Left Behind Act, school districts must provide free transportation to students who wish to transfer out of failing schools and into better ones. According to the most recent state test results, 263 CPS elementary schools fell short of the federal law’s mandate for adequate yearly progress. Students who attend them are eligible to leave.
At the Chicago Board of Education’s request, state legislators voted to limit the number of choice schools by excluding magnets and overcrowded schools. Under the new state legislation, about half of the 241 elementary schools that are making “adequate yearly progress” could be off-limits, including 31 magnets, 27 severely overcrowded schools and 59 moderately crowded schools.