AIKEN - More than 2,000 students in Aiken County have opted to exercise the school-choice option for the current academic year.

The school board recently approved a plan to re-engineer the district's school choice program, which will make transferring easier, beginning in the 2007-08 school year.

The new program will discontinue the need for families to state a hardship in order for their children to transfer schools, such as requesting that a child attend a school closer to the parents' workplace because the child has asthma.

A recently completed administration review of the capacities at all 20 elementary schools in the district determined how many additional pupils each school could enroll. The number of available spaces ranges from 26 at Gloverville Elementary to 134 at Redcliffe Elementary, according to the report.

William A. Gallman, the deputy superintendent, said a number of factors are involved in determining the capacity of a school, such as physical space availability and the need for Title I-designated schools to have smaller pupil-teacher ratios.

"The plan is designed to be parent friendly and to make the process of requesting a transfer easier and simpler for parents," Dr. Gallman said.

The state Department of Education is developing a unified method for middle and high schools to ascertain school capacities, Dr. Gallman said.

The new school choice program will not be expanded to those schools until that is completed, he said.

John B. Bradley, the school board chairman, said that when the number of transfer requests exceeds the number of available spaces, a lottery system will be used.

"We're talking about roughly the same number of teachers and the same number of students, but redistributing them," Dr. Bradley said.

Dr. Gallman added that more portable units might be put in place at some schools to expand capacity.

Ashley Landess, the vice president for public affairs at the South Carolina Policy Council, said Aiken County's move to make school choice easier for families is a positive step.

"Schools serve children differently, (and) children need different things from schools and learning," Ms. Landess said. "All the research shows that the more choices parents have, the more satisfied they are and the better the system as a whole performs."

Brett Jarriel, a parent of two daughters at Aiken High School, said they have friends who have switched to Aiken High for reasons that include its International Baccalaureate program, which is offered only at Aiken and North Augusta high schools.

"I think in general that's always a good thing to have more options and have more choices," Mr. Jarriel said. "It's an advantage for parents."

Reach Nathan Dickinson at (803) 648-1395, ext. 109, or nathan.dickinson@augustachronicle.com.