Will Evansdale become a Title 1 school?

I have been getting the question of when and if we’ll qualify for Title 1 pretty frequently.  In response to this repeated query, I did a little research.  I spoke with Anthony Threat, the State DOE Title 1 representative for our region, and got a little more information to put our chance of Title 1 funding into perspective. 

First of all, you can click here for a website with extensive information on Title 1 funding, if interested. 

Here is an excerpt from the website:

"Title I is a federal program that provides funds to school districts and schools with high numbers or high percentages of children who are disadvantaged to support a variety of services. Its overall purpose is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and assessments. The grant contains provisions for ensuring that children who are disadvantaged enrolled in private schools also benefit from the academic enrichment services funded with Title I, Part A funds."

To summarize my conversation with the regional representative for Title 1,  Evansdale is VERY unlikely to qualify for Title 1 funding anytime in the near future. 

Here are some specifics:

-        We live in a very poor county so there are many schools in our district with 100% of children below the poverty line. 

-        By law any school with 75% or higher kids below the poverty line MUST be served with Title 1 funds.  Any school below 75% poverty is up to the discretion of the specific district whether or not to fund.

-       Title 1 funds are not a per pupil amount.  That is, as the population of the county in poverty increases, the pot of money stays the same and gets cut into smaller and smaller pieces.

-     DCSD has set their service limit at 59.86%.  A school must be above that mark to get money.  Other wealthier counties have lower cut offs – some as low as 20% below poverty line qualify for Title 1.  That is not the case for DCSD.

-      Schools are served in rank order by law.  Even if we hit 59.86%, there are currently 15 schools ahead of us that are not yet being served with Title 1 funds but have higher poverty rates than us.  Even if we get to 59.86% poverty, the pie many not be able to be cut into enough pieces for Evansdale to get a slice. 

The State DOE Title 1 rep for our region (source of above information) mentioned grants and other funding sources but did not know any specifics – he just knew they existed somewhere.  He suggested that we pursue grants and other opportunities to bridge the gaps in our community. 

In summary, I think we can close the door on the possibility of Title 1 funding and turn our attention to applying for alternate sources.