A r c h i v e d  I n f o r m a t i o n

General Selection Requirements

1. LEA must rank all of its school attendance areas in rank order of poverty.
   • An LEA must use the same measure of poverty for:
     • Identifying eligible school attendance areas.

     • Determining the ranking of each area.

     • Determining the allocation for each area.

   • The LEA must select a poverty measure from the following options:
     • Children ages 5-17 in poverty counted in the most recent census data approved by the Secretary.

     • Children eligible for free and reduced-price lunches under the National Free School Lunch Act.

     • Children in families receiving assistance under the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program.

     • Children eligible to receive medical assistance under the Medicaid program.

     • A composite of any of the above measures.

   • An LEA must rank school attendance areas based on the percentage (not the number) of low-income children counted.

2. After an LEA has ranked all of its school attendance areas by poverty, the LEA must serve, in rank order of poverty, its areas above 75 percent poverty, including any middle schools or high schools.

3. Only after an LEA has served all of its areas with a poverty rate above 75 percent may the LEA serve lower-ranked areas. The LEA has the option to (1) continue on with the districtwide ranking or (2) rank remaining areas by grade span groupings.
   • The same districtwide poverty average must be used if the LEA selects option (1).

   • For ranking by grade span groupings, the LEA may use (1) the distictwide poverty average or (2) the districtwide grade span poverty averages for the respective grade span groupings.

   • If an LEA has no school attendance areas above 75 percent poverty, the LEA may rank districtwide or by grade span groupings.

   • An LEA's organization of its schools defines its grade span groupings. For example, if an LEA had elementary schools serving all elementary grades, middle schools, and high schools, the grade span groupings would be grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. To the extent an LEA has schools that overlap grade spans (e. g. , K-5, K-8, 6-8), the LEA may include a school in the grade span in which it is most appropriate.

4. An LEA with an enrollment of less than 1,000 students or with only one school per grade span is not required to rank its school attendance areas.

   LEA Discretion in Selecting Participating Areas and Schools

5. An LEA may--
   • Designate as eligible any school attendance area or school in which at least 35 percent of the children are from low-income families--i. e. , the "35 percent rule. "

   • Use Part A funds in a school that does not serve an eligible school attendance area if the percentage of children from low-income families enrolled in the school is equal to or greater than the percentage of such children in a participating school attendance area of the LEA.

   • Elect not to serve an eligible school attendance area or school that has a higher percentage of children from low-income families if--
     • The school meets the Title I comparability requirements;

     • The school is receiving supplemental funds from other State or local sources that are spent according to the requirements of Sections 1114 or 1115; and

     • The funds expended from such other sources equal or exceed the amount that would be provided under Part A.

   Allocating Title I Funds to Participating Areas and Schools

6. An LEA must allocate Part A funds to participating school attendance areas or schools, in rank order, on the basis of the total number of children from low-income families in each area or school. An LEA with an enrollment of less than 1,000 students or with only one school per grade span is not required to allocate funds to areas or schools in rank order.

7. If an LEA serves any areas or schools below 35 percent poverty, the LEA must allocate to all its participating areas or schools an amount for each low-income child in each participating school attendance area or school that is at least 125 percent of the LEA's allocation per low-income child.
   • An LEA's allocation per low-income child is the total LEA allocation under subpart 2 of Part A divided by the number of low-income children in the LEA according to the poverty measure selected by the LEA to identify eligible school attendance areas. The LEA then multiplies this per-child amount by 125 percent.

   • An LEA calculates 125 percent of its allocation per low-income child before the LEA reserves any funds.

   • An LEA must allocate at least this amount for each low-income child in every school the LEA serves, not just for those schools below 35 percent poverty.

   • If remaining funds are not sufficient to fully fund the next ranked eligible school attendance area or school, the LEA may serve the area or school if it determines the funds are sufficient to enable children to make adequate progress toward meeting the State's challenging performance standards.

8. An LEA serving only areas or schools at or above 35 percent poverty must allocate funds in rank order, on the basis of the total number of low-income children in each area or school but is not required to allocate 125 percent of the LEA's allocation per low-income child (described in 7. above). However, in determining what per-child amount to allocate, the LEA should bear in mind the purpose of such funding--to enable children who are most at risk to meet the State's challenging student performance standards.

9. An LEA is not required to allocate the same per-child amount to each area or school. However, the LEA must allocate a higher per-child amount to areas or schools with higher poverty rates than it allocates to areas or schools with lower poverty rates.

10. An LEA that opts to serve schools below 75 percent poverty using grade span groupings may determine different per-child amounts for different grade spans as long as those amounts do not exceed the amount allocated to any area or school above 75 percent poverty. Per-child amounts within grade spans may also vary as long as the LEA allocates higher per-child amounts to areas or schools with higher poverty rates than it allocates to areas or schools with lower poverty rates.

Questions and Answers

A. No. However, school attendance areas to be served must be selected in rank order.

Q2. Section 1113(b)(1)(C)(i)(II) allows an LEA to skip an eligible school attendance area or school that has a higher percentage of poverty if the area or school is spending supplemental State or local funds "according to the requirements of section 1114 or 1115. "What is meant by "according to the requirements of section 1114 or 1115?"

A. A supplemental State or local program meets the requirements of Section 1114 if the program--

• Is implemented in a school that meets the schoolwide poverty threshold for eligibility.

• Is designed to upgrade the entire educational program in the school to support students in their achievement toward meeting the State's challenging student performance standards.

• Is designed to meet the educational needs of all children in the school, particularly the needs of children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging student performance standards.

• Uses the State's system of assessment to review the effectiveness of the program.

  A supplemental State or local program meets the requirements of Section 1115 if the program--

• Serves only children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet the State's challenging student performance standards.

• Provides supplementary services designed to meet the special educational needs of the children who are participating to support their achievement toward meeting the State's student performance standards that all children are expected to meet.

• Uses the State's system of assessment to review the effectiveness of the program.

Q3. How does an LEA handle carryover funds when allocating funds to school attendance areas?

A. Although an LEA may not use carryover funds to provide services in an ineligible school, an LEA has considerable discretion in handling carryover funds. Some of these options include:

• Allow each school to retain its carryover funds for use in the subsequent year.

• Add carryover funds to the LEA's subsequent year's allocation and distribute to participating areas and schools in accordance with allocation procedures.

• Designate carryover funds for particular activities that could best benefit from additional funding. (Examples:parental involvement activities; schools with the highest concentrations of poverty. )

  Regardless of the option an LEA elects, the LEA may not carry over more than 15 percent of its allocation from one year to the next. This percentage limitation does not apply to an LEA that receives an allocation of less than $50,000 under subpart 2 of Part A. An SEA may, once every three years, waive the percentage limitation if it determines that the request of an LEA is reasonable and necessary or if supplemental appropriations become available.

Q4. May an LEA allocate a greater per-pupil amount, for example, to schoolwide program schools than to targeted assistance schools since schoolwide programs serve all children in the school?

A. The Title I statute requires allocations to be based on the total number of low-income children in a school attendance area or school. Therefore, poverty is the only factor on which an LEA may determine funding. In other words, an LEA may not allocate funds based on the instructional model, educational need, or any other non-poverty factor. In fact, now that Part A places the responsibility for selecting participants and designing programs on schools rather than on the LEA, the LEA will not necessarily be in a position to know in advance the instructional model or educational need when determining allocations.

Q5. May an LEA reserve funds from its Part A allocation before distributing funds to school attendance areas?

A. Yes. Before allocating funds an LEA shall reserve funds as are reasonable and necessary to--

• Provide services comparable to those provided to children in participating school attendance areas and schools to serve--
  • Children in local institutions for neglected children; and

  • Where appropriate--
    • Eligible homeless children who do not attend participating schools, including providing educationally related support services to children in shelters.

    • Children in local institutions for delinquent children.

    • Neglected and delinquent children in community day school programs.

• Meet the requirements for parent involvement. An LEA that receives more than $500,000 under subpart 2 of Part A must spend at least 1 percent of its allocation for parental involvement activities. However, funds that schools spend for parent involvement activities may count toward meeting this requirement.

• Administer Part A programs for public and private school children, including special capital expenses not paid for from funds provided under 200. 16 of the Title I regulations that are incurred as a result of implementing alternative delivery systems to comply with the requirements of Aguilar v. Felton.

• Conduct other authorized activities such as preschool programs, summer school and intersession programs, professional development, school improvement, and coordinated services.

Because the reservation of funds by an LEA will reduce the funds available for distribution to participating areas and schools, the LEA must consult with teachers, pupil services personnel (where appropriate), principals, and parents of children in participating schools in determining, as part of its LEA plan, what reservations are needed. This issue must also be part of the consultation with private school officials before an LEA makes any decisions that affect the opportunities of eligible private school children to participate in Part A programs.

Q6. Is there a maximum amount that an LEA may reserve?

A. No. An LEA must bear in mind, however, that the goal of Part A is to enable participating children to make adequate progress toward meeting the challenging student performance standards that all children are expected to meet. Moreover, the LEA must calculate 125 percent of the LEA's allocation per low-income child before it reserves any funds.

Q7. How may an LEA reserve funds for activities such as parental involvement and professional development?

A. An LEA may reserve funds at the LEA level for activities such as parental involvement and professional development or the LEA may require its Title I schools to carry out these activities from their allocations. For example, an LEA that is required to spend at least 1 percent of its allocation for parental involvement activities may reserve the full 1 percent from its Part A allocation, require each school to spend a requisite amount from its Part A allocation, or use a combination of these approaches.

Q8. May an LEA consider variations in personnel costs, such as seniority pay differentials or fringe benefit differentials, as LEA-wide administrative costs, rather than as part of the funds allocated to school attendance areas?

A. Yes, this is an allowable option for the LEA. The statute requires that Part A funds be allocated to school attendance areas and schools on the basis of the number of children from low-income families in each area or school. This provision assumes, for example, that two schools with the same number of poor children need similar amounts of funds to provide comparable educational programs to participating children. An inequity may occur, however, if schools with similar allocations offering similar instructional programs need to spend different amounts because of the salary and fringe benefit costs of the staff providing the instruction. To address this situation, an LEA may consider variations in personnel costs, such as seniority pay differentials or fringe benefits differentials, as LEA-wide administrative costs, rather than as part of the funds allocated to school attendance areas or schools. The LEA would pay the differential salary and fringe benefit costs from its administrative funds taken off the top of the LEA's allocation. This policy would have to be applied consistently to staff serving both public and private school children throughout the LEA.

Q9. How may preschool children be served under Part A?

A. There are several ways in which preschool children may be served under Part A. For example--

• A participating school may use part of its Part A funds to operate a preschool program.

• An LEA may reserve an amount from the LEA's total allocation to operate a Part A preschool program for eligible children in the district as a whole or for a portion of the district.

• An LEA may reserve an amount from the LEA's total allocation and distribute these funds to schools that wish to operate a Part A preschool program.

Q10. Is there any flexibility in how an LEA may count children from low-income families in middle and high schools?

A. Of the four measures of poverty the statute permits an LEA to use for identifying eligible school attendance areas and allocating funds to those areas, eligibility for free or reduced-price lunch is by far the measure most frequently used. Yet, we know from experience that high school and middle school students are less likely to participate in free and reduced-price lunch programs than are elementary school students. Hence, those schools often may not be identified as eligible for Title I services or, if eligible, may not receive as high an allocation as their actual poverty rate would require. In order to address the situation, an LEA may use comparable data collected through alternative means such as a survey. Also, an LEA may use the feeder pattern concept. This concept would allow the LEA to project the number of low-income children in a middle school or high school based on the average poverty rate of the elementary school attendance areas that feed into that school.

Example of Feeder Pattern DISTRICT ENROLLMENT LOW-INCOME # (Elementary) School A 568 364 School B 329 163 School C 588 262 School D 836 277 --- --- Total 2,321 1,066 (High School) 2,000 918 Calculate average percentage of poverty for the four elementary school attendance areas by dividing the total number of low-income children by the total enrollment (1,066/2,321). The average percentage of poverty is 45. 92%. Because these four elementary schools feed into the high school, the poverty percentage of the high school is also 45. 92%. To calculate the number of low-income students in the high school, multiply the total school enrollment by the average percentage of poverty for the four elementary feeder schools (2,000 x 45. 92%). This is the number used for allocating Title I funds to the high school.

Example of Feeder Pattern DISTRICT ENROLLMENT LOW INCOME # (Elementary) School A (1) 512 360 School B (1) 322 142 School C (2) 450 100 School D (1) 376 201 School E (2) 504 221 School F (2) 610 307 School G (1) 416 202 --- --- Total 3,190 1,533 (Middle School 1) 1,599 890 Calculate average percentage of poverty for elementary attendance areas A, B, D, and G by dividing the total number of low-income children in schools A, B, D, and G by the total enrollment of schools A, B, D, and G (905/1,626). The average percentage of poverty is 55. 66%. Because these four elementary schools feed into Middle School 1, the poverty percentage of Middle School 1 is also 55. 66% To calculate the number of low-income students in Middle School 1, multiply the total school enrollment by the average percentage of poverty for the four elementary feeder schools (1,599 x 55. 66%). This is the number used for allocating Title I funds to Middle School 1. (Middle School 2) 1,325 532 Calculate average percentage of poverty for elementary attendance areas C, E, and F by dividing the total number of low-income children in schools C, E, and F by the total enrollment of schools C, E, and F (628/1,564). The average percentage of poverty is 40. 15%. Because these three elementary schools feed into Middle School 2, the poverty percentage of Middle School 2 is also 40. 15%. To calculate the number of low-income students in Middle School 2, multiply the total school enrollment by the average percentage of poverty for the three elementary feeder schools (1,325 x 40. 15%). This is the number used for allocating Title I funds to Middle School 2. (High School) 3,000 1,422 Calculate average percentage of poverty for all elementary attendance areas by dividing the total number of low-income children by the total enrollment (1,533/3,190)The average percentage of poverty is 48. 06%. Because all elementary schools eventually feed into the high school, the poverty percentage of the high school is also 48. 06%. To calculate the number of low-income students in the high school, multiply the total school enrollment by the average percentage of poverty for all the elementary feeder schools (3,000 x 48. 06%). This is the number used for allocating Title I funds to the high school.

When an LEA elects to use the feeder pattern, the LEA--

• Determines the districtwide average of poverty based on all of the schools for which the district is using actual poverty data; and

• Uses this distictwide average to rank all of the attendance areas or schools in the district.

Q11. How are funds made available to provide services to eligible private school children?

A. Title I continues the requirement that an LEA provide equitable services to eligible children enrolled in private schools. Because of other changes in Title I, however, some new procedures are necessary. For example, Section 1113(c) of Title I requires an LEA to allocate funds to a participating school attendance area or school on the basis of the total number of children from low-income families, including low-income children attending private schools. Thus, the LEA, in consultation with private school officials, must obtain the best available poverty data on private school children who reside in participating attendance areas. Because private school officials may have access to some sources of poverty information not easily accessible to public school officials, it is very important that public and private school official cooperate in this effort.

LEAs have flexibility in the methods used to collect poverty data on private school children . For example, an LEA could use:

1. Data from the same source for both public and private school children.

2. Poverty data for private school children that are from a different source than the data the LEA uses for public school children as long as the income level for both sources is generally the same.

3. If complete data from the same or comparable poverty sources are not available, extrapolated data on the number of low-income private school children based on actual data from a representative sample of private school children.

4. Correlated data that shows the relation between two known sources of poverty data on public school children, which is then applied to a known source of data on private school children.

5. For 1995-96 ONLY, proportional data based on the poverty percentage of each public school attendance area applied to the total number of private school children who reside in that area.

• Provide equitable services to eligible children in each private school with the funds generated by children from low-income families who reside in participating public school attendance areas and who attend that private school.

• Combine the funds generated by poor private school children in all participating areas to create a pool of funds from which the LEA provides equitable services to eligible private school children who reside in participating public school attendance areas and are in the greatest educational need of those services. Under this option, the services provided to eligible children in a particular private school are not dependent upon the amount of funds generated by poor children in the school.

[Questions and Answers]

[Example of Ranking Schools & Allocating Funds in an LEA Serving Schools Below 35% Poverty (125% Rule Applies)]