The additional schools, including 90 in metro Atlanta, will be notified today that they must offer parents the remedies called for under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

That brings the number of schools required to offer transfers to 549 statewide, with more than half of them in the Atlanta area.

Georgia Department of Education officials said the 270 schools in question were on the state's "Needs Improvement" list but had made the state's testing goals during the 2002-03 school year. Therefore, the state said, those schools would not have to offer any new transfers or tutoring under the federal law. Students who had transferred or received tutoring last year would still be able to do so, the department said.

But officials from the U.S. Department of Education said schools need to make their testing goals two years in a row before they can stop offering transfers or tutoring.

"The state may have misinterpreted the law in terms of which students would be eligible to receive [transfers]," said Daniel Langan, a U.S. Education Department spokesman. "They will now be meeting the requirements of the law."

The state got an interpretation of the rules from the federal agency Thursday, said Amy Starzynksi, the Georgia Department of Education's executive director of policy and external affairs.

"Based on our discussion, we need to go back and clarify the system," she said.

The state, she said, hopes to notify school systems today about the change. All metro Atlanta school systems will be back in session by Monday, and many parents aren't likely to get word of their school's status until after classes start.

At Shoal Creek Elementary in Rockdale County, parent Terri Anschutz said she's glad her school's test scores are improving, but disappointed that the school will still have to offer transfers.

"We should be able to keep our students," she said. "I'd like to see our parents stay and be involved in the school and make it better."

A complex law

Thursday's development was the latest twist in a confusing week for Georgia's public schools. The state Department of Education released the Needs Improvement list late Tuesday. Since then, many schools have questioned whether they belong on the list. The DeKalb and Cobb county school systems announced Thursday that some of their schools had already been removed from the list, but it was not clear whether that assessment was accurate.

No Child Left Behind -- signed into law by President Bush in 2002 -- created a complex set of regulations. It allows each state to set up its own system of accountability and its own definition of a school that "needs improvement." But the federal law dictates what remedies should be offered to students at schools that don't meet the state's testing goals.

In Georgia, 60 percent of elementary and middle school students who are tested must pass the English and Language Arts curriculum exams, and half the students must pass the math exam. The pass rates are higher for high schools.

Schools that don't meet the goals for two years in a row are placed on the Needs Improvement list and are required to offer transfers. After three years on the list, the schools must offer free tutoring. In later years, the sanctions get tougher, including staff reassignments and state takeover of the school.

Langan said he believes Georgia was not willfully flouting the law, but -- like many states -- was trying to understand a new and very complex set of regulations.

"The U.S. Department of Education and the Secretary [Rod Paige] are committed to working with states as they implement the various divisions of this law," he said. "We also recognize that from time to time there may be issues and questions that emerge. This was an example of that."

More waiting

Local school systems that were already under tight deadlines to inform parents of their options now face the necessity of having to send word to thousands more families.

In Rockdale County, 49 parents at J.H. House and Shoal Creek elementary schools had requested their children be transferred to another school. But Rockdale officials told the parents that the children could not be transferred under the state's rules.

Hours later, school officials were told the two schools were now on the list. Matt Cardoza, a Rockdale school system spokesman, said officials will wait for written notification from the state about the change in status.

"Now we're in a situation where we'll have to renotify them," he said.

The most seriously affected school system appears to be Atlanta Public Schools, which has 25 additional schools that may now have to offer transfers and, in most cases, tutoring. DeKalb County has 20 additional schools.

Fulton County is ahead of the game. The school system mailed letters in July to parents at seven schools they believed would have to offer transfers no matter what -- including the four affected by Thursday's developments.

Mitzi Edge, a spokeswoman for Fulton schools, said it was important to give parents enough time before the start of school to decide whether to move their children.

"It was our belief, as we interpreted the rules, that these schools would still be on the list," she said. "We decided not to wait."

-- Staff writers Patti Ghezzi, Donna Lewis, Phil Taylor and Paul Donsky contributed to this article.