Title 1 Funding Education Families.com

Title 1 Funding

Title 1 federal funding began in 1965 when the Elementary and Secondary Act was passed. Since then, Title 1 has played a major role in funding education. Title 1 was created to allow all students an equal opportunity to receive the highest quality education possible. It was designed to remove factors such low income and poverty. Through Title 1, school districts can hire teachers to lower student-teacher ratio, provide tutoring for struggling students, create school computer labs, fund parent involvement activities, purchase instructional materials, host professional development for teachers, create pre-kindergarten classes, and hire teacher assistants.

Schools receive Title 1 funding based on the percentage of their student enrollment that qualifies as being low-income. Low-income students are the children that are on free or reduced lunch. Parents can complete an application for free or reduced lunch at the beginning of each school year. To qualify, the family must meet income requirements based on the number of members in the family. The percentage of low-income students at a Title 1 school must be at least as high as the overall percentage of the district, or the percentage must be at least 35%. The lower number of the two is accepted. Each district is given a lump sum of money to divide among the schools. Districts rank the schools in order beginning with the highest low-income percentage rate. The top schools receive funding first and the rest of the money, until it is all used, is divided among the other schools. If a school has a 75% free and reduced lunch rate, it must be served under Title 1.

Students do not have to receive free or reduced lunch to benefit from Title 1. Title 1 was created to help at-risk students. Therefore, a student in a Title 1 school can receive tutoring from Title 1 funding even if the child is not considered to be low-income. Likewise, there are students that are receiving free or reduced lunch that are not receiving Title 1 services. Most schools have some percentage of students that are considered low-income. However, the school’s overall percentage may not be high enough for the school to receive Title 1 funds.