No Educator Left Behind is a series providing answers from the U.S. Department of Education to questions about the federal No Child Left Behind Act and how it will affect educators. If you have a question about No Child Left Behind, send an e-mail to Ellen Delisio, and we will submit your question to the Department of Education.

Question:

Do charter schools that admit students based on a lottery have to give priority to eligible students transferring under the public school choice provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act?

U.S. Department of Education:

No. Nothing in the No Child Left Behind Act requires that students transferring under the Title I public school choice provisions be granted preference in such lotteries. State law determines how and if lotteries operate for oversubscribed charter schools. Also, to be an eligible charter school under the federal charter school grants program, a charter school must use a lottery to admit students if there are more applicants than openings. Some state laws, however, allow other methods of determining admission to oversubscribed charter schools.

Read previous questions and answers in our No Educator Left Behind archive.