Transform Education in America through Choice Act of 2015
Amends the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to allow states to allocate school improvement grant funds among their local educational agencies (LEAs) on the basis of the number of children whose family income lies below the federal poverty level and who are enrolled in the public and state-accredited private schools within each LEA's geographic jurisdiction.
Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act to allow states that have established a program allowing the parents of disabled children to use public or private funds to send their children to a private school to use their allocation of special education funds to supplement those funds.
Authorizes grants for the improvement of special education services to be used for the planning, design, and initial implementation (during a period of up to three years) of state programs that allow the parents of a disabled child to make a genuine independent choice of the appropriate public or private school.
Sets forth requirements for those programs, including that they: (1) permit parents to receive state funds to pay some or all of the costs of their disabled child's attendance at the selected school, or (2) permit persons to receive a state tax credit for donations to an entity that provides funds to enable parents to pay some or all of the costs of their disabled child's attendance at that school.
Repeals: (1) within one year or two years after this Act's enactment, specified provisions of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, the Higher Education Act of 1965, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the America COMPETES Act, the American History and Civics Education Act of 2004, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Improvement Act of 2006, and the Small Business Act; (2) within one year after this Act's enactment, the Erma Byrd Scholarship program; and (3) within three years after this Act's enactment, each competitive grant program administered by the Department of Education (ED), with specified exceptions.
Requires ED, within one year after a program under this Act is repealed, to reduce the ED workforce by the number of full-time ED employee positions associated with such program.