High School Wants Out of Title One

By Robert E. Jensen
The Desert Independent

February 14, 2010

BLYTHE, Calif – At the recent Board meeting on February 9th, Principal Marrio Walker delivered a presentation to on the benefits to the High School of not accepting any more Title One funding. Title One monies are a federal entitlement to schools that have high levels of poverty-ridden families. This is often gauged by the percent of Free and Reduced Lunches that are approved by the local District Child Nutrition program. This type of federal school funding harkens back to the 1964 Elementary and Secondary Education Act as part of President Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty. It was originally known as Title One, then was called Chapter One for a few decades and is now again called Title One.

At the present time, according to the Consolidated Application ratified by the Board on Tuesday, the poverty rate at PVVHS sits a 50.3%. This would earn the High School an estimated $157,000 in monies meant to supplement the education of those targeted low-income students. To view the Title One allocations as provided to The Desert Independent by Department of Education for the Palo Verde USD, please click HERE.

This all sounds great until you get to the “strings” that are attached. Schools and Districts that accept Title One monies are forced to abide by the No Child Left Behind legacy of George W. Bush. This has not been a helpful act. Under No Child Left Behind and now the Race To The Top program initiated by President Obama, the State of California can intervene on behalf of the Federal government and appoint a “Trustee” to run the School District until the schools are back on solid academic footing again. The High School had been under to onus of SAIT (School Academic Intervention Team) three years ago and is now under DAIT (District Academic Intervention Team) as it still struggles under the cloud of being labeled a Persistently Underachieving School.

So why refuse Title One monies?

Consider the move to be like a “Shell Game”. It is entirely legal for a school site within a School-Wide Title One District to refuse the money. This is known as “Skipping” and the hitch is, the monies that the site normally would have received from the Feds have to be replaced dollar for dollar from State or local sources. As such, Mr. Walker proposed that the Title One dollars that the School normally would be receiving be distributed to BMS and the Elementary Schools. In turn, the District would rake in EIA (Economic Impact Aid) dollars from those same schools and give the matching amount to the High School. According to Russ Frank of the Riverside County Office of Education, many districts choose to keep their secondary schools out of Title one – for example, Val Verde and Fontana Unified School Districts.

What is Economic Impact Aid? According to the State of California, it is:

Economic Impact Aid (EIA) is a state categorical program contained in the Consolidated Application for funds. These supplemental funds are used, kindergarten through grade twelve, to support (1) additional programs and services for English learners (ELs) and (2) compensatory education services for educationally disadvantaged students, as determined by the LEA applicant. EIA funding is open to all public school districts that request participation using Part I of the annual Consolidated Application for funds.

Shrewd move. This would mean that PVVHS would be exempted from the dire interventions that DAIT could impose under NCLB in one fell swoop. The students – excepting the Seniors – would still have to undergo STAR testing in the Spring just like everyone else, but their scores would only be reflected in the State API rankings – they would no longer have to worry about the Federal AYP.

Mr. Walker further explained that he has only half the Math and Language Arts teacher positions that were present at the High School than 3 years ago as SAIT paid for the extras and the agreement to raise class sizes last spring caused attrition in the ranks.

Title one monies have two basic rules. One, they must be of direct benefit to the students and, two – they can only be used to supplement, not supplant existing resources. As such, Title One monies cannot be used to pay for the needed instructors as it would be “supplanting” the old SAIT dollars. State EIA dollars do not carry quite the same onus. According to Mr. Walker, EIA dollars can indeed be used to pay for the necessary teachers in Math and Language Arts and, in doing so, will alleviate class overcrowding, allow for more individualized attention and – hopefully – will allow the API scores to rise.

The School Board did not make any decision pending more study of the proposal, but –  if true – the benefits accrued could make this a very shrewd move indeed.