For years, the fight over whether to expand school choice in Florida has been a bitter struggle waged by lawmakers, teachers unions and parents.

But it’s only part of a larger national struggle to give economically disadvantaged parents opportunities to take their children out of failing schools and into schools they can’t normally afford, according to a New York City-based documentary film due out this week.

A glimpse of the ugliness and of the battle for expanded school choice can be seen in screenings of “The Lottery” in two Florida cities today.