Few Choosing Public School Choice for This Fall

By Erik W. Robelen

Washington

The letters arrived in early May. More than 2,400 families got word from education officials in Colorado Springs, Colo., that their public schools were not making what the federal government calls "adequate yearly progress" on test scores.

Each family, the letters said, could choose from two nearby public schools that had avoided the stigma. While public school choice is not new to Colorado Springs, students at the low-performing schools are now entitled to a free bus ride to another school, thanks to a new federal law.

But even with that incentive, there hasn't exactly been a mass exodus. Call it a trickle. As of last month, only 37 students—less than 2 percent of those eligible—were planning to switch schools, according to an official in...