By Karen Gutierrez
Enquirer staff writer

Federal law now gives parents the right to pull their children out of mediocre schools and put them in better ones.

But it hasn't been working that way in the Covington Independent School District. Students there have one option: If they want to transfer, they must go to the district's smallest school.

It's not top-notch. In fact, it scored lower on some tests than the school the kids would be leaving.

"I don't think it's really a choice," said Sandy Arnold, a parent at John G. Carlisle Elementary. Families that try to make use of the federal law "kind of get screwed in the end," she said.

The law is the No Child Left Behind Act. It requires schools to track test scores by category of student, such as African-American, Hispanic or disabled.

Schools may be penalized if students in one category falter. Those that receive significant amounts of federal funding must offer students the option of transferring.

That's the big picture. But in the fine print of the law, loopholes and technicalities have led to some absurd situations, critics say.

Schools rated highly by their states, for instance, have been flagged as failing under No Child Left Behind.

And parents are finding they get more or less choice depending on where they live. That's because the states get some leeway in setting certain rules.

In Kentucky, for instance, districts are permitted to direct transfers to one particular school, even if others have better scores. But in Ohio, districts have been told they should offer at least two choices.

This fall, the Cincinnati public school system offered 14 elementary school choices to students eligible for transfer. The list was compiled based on school performance, not enrollment needs, a CPS official said.

Over the last two years, 60 Cincinnati students have transferred under No Child Left Behind. So far in Covington, none have done so.

Many Covington parents say they're happy with their children's schools or want to stay within walking distance. But it's also likely that some didn't understand the highly technical letters they received.

"It's like a foreign language to people," said Arnold, the parent from Carlisle. "They're like, 'What is this?'"

This year, two of Covington's six elementaries had to send letters announcing the transfer option.

They were Latonia Elementary and John G. Carlisle, both flagged because their 2003 scores did not improve enough over the year before.

At both schools, parents were told their option would be Thomas Edison Elementary. It has 269 students but space for about 280, Superintendent Jack Moreland said.

Edison has improved greatly in recent years. But its math scores are still lower than those at Carlisle and its reading scores not much higher. Meanwhile, two other schools in Covington - Sixth District and Ninth District - generally have better scores than Edison.

Asked whether he considered Edison the best choice for parents, Moreland said, "We try, to the best of our ability, to make all our elementaries as nearly equal as we can. I don't love one more than the other."

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E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com