Title I statute and regulations [§1116(b)(6); 34 CFR §200.37 and 200.44(a)(2)] require the State Education Agency (SEA) to review and monitor Local Education Agency (LEA) and school parental notices for timeliness and completeness of information. This review will include Public School Choice (PSC) and/or Supplemental Educational Services (SES) letters that each LEA must send to parents of students who are in a Title I school identified for school improvement Year 1 and beyond.
Title I schools identified for improvement are required to offer PSC, and Title I schools identified for improvement Year 2 and beyond are required to offer SES. The PSC and/or SES letter must be sent to parents no less than 14 days before the beginning of the school year. The letters must inform parents of their rights to PSC and/or SES. It should be specific to the school and contain the required reporting elements. Sample letters containing the required elements are attached. Please note that it may be necessary to draft letters based on preliminary AYP results.
Letters must be provided to Arkansas Department of Education (ADE) by July 1, 2010. ADE will review letters and give approval for distribution by August 1, 2010. This process will provide each LEA time to distribute the letters to parents within the required distribution deadline. The Federal Programs office will contact districts directly if letters submitted are missing the required reporting elements.
Submit letters for each school in the LEA along with the completed chart (see attachments) by July 1, 2010 to:
Arkansas Department of Education
ATTN: Bernice Martin-Russell
4 Capitol Mall, Room 301-B
Little Rock, AR 72201
Additional guidance on PSC and SES can be found at the following
websites:
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/schoolchoiceguid.pdf
http://www2.ed.gov/policy/elsec/guid/suppsvcsguid.doc