NCLB is very clear on the rights of children in failing schools: simply put, they are not compelled to stay.  Likewise, the law is very specific on the responsibilities of failing schools: they are to clearly communicate to parents that they may take their children elsewhere if they so choose. 

Nobody with a shred of intellectual honesty can seriously contend that the schools in Los Angeles and Compton have followed through on their responsibilities under NCLB to inform parents of their options.  In L.A., .2 percent (yes, two-tenths of one percent) received transfers to better-performing schools.  In Compton?  None.  Zero.  The California Department of Education asserts, with a straight face, that no parent is interested in transferring their children out of Compton schools.  (And don't argue that few parents--1 percent of those eligible--actually exercise their transfer rights.  That still puts even L.A. well below the national average.  Besides, that would tend to reflect a similar trend nationwide.) 

We say that Los Angeles Unified School District, Compton Unified School District, and the California Department of Education are in violation of federal law.  Period.  They have explicit obligations under the law that they are failing--are refusing--to fulfill.  And as is modus operandi with entrenched, calcified education bureaucracies everywhere, the entities named above have told us to take a hike. 

This could have major implications ahead of NCLB reauthorization.  No serious observer believes that NCLB will be eliminated.  But when Democrats--joined at the hip with the NEA and AFT--are the ones running those reauthorization hearings next year, imagine how the law may look after they're finished with it.  There's already been so much opposition to NCLB's accountability measures, particularly the transfer option.  And as much as districts have done to successfully avoid transfer requirements, it's a safe bet that the right to transfer out of a failing school will be an endangered species. 

So now it's up to you, Secretary Spellings.  When you helped craft NCLB--a law that you recently declared as 99.9 percent pure--you gave the law teeth.  We have done our level best to take action under NCLB, but the system still refuses to respond.  But the unfortunate reality is that, in spite of the novel promise that children do not have to remain trapped in failing schools, millions of children are still in this dire predicament.  We publicly call upon you to step in and do for California schoolchildren what their education leaders will not.