HCPSS MPIA Request #2020-196

Requested Information
MPIA 2020 - 146 list notes from the attendance area committee. Page 11 begins a discussion on Title 1 funds. There is discussion about a shift in 2014 from Targeted funding to school wide funding. However, at the Board of Education public meeting on September 19th 2019, Caroline Walker stated that title 1 funding has always been school-wide and is only allowed by law to do so. I am requesting any communication between Board of Education members and staff related to the discrepancies in those two meetings related to how Title 1 funds have been used. I am also requesting the responses from staff to those questions.
Date Received
Status
Complete
Response Notes

Responsive to this request, no responsive records of communications between Board of Education members and staff regarding discrepancies between these meetings exist. Staff indicates the discussion during the September 19, 2019, Board of Education meeting noted Title I funds were distributed to Title I identified schools to emphasize the fact such funds don’t follow individual students when students move between schools. Once schools have been identified as Title I (based on grade span and percentage of students receiving Free and Reduced-price Meals (FARMs)), the schools can provide services through one of two types of Title I programs. Targeted Assistance programs use funds only to support students who are underperforming in mathematics and/or reading. Schoolwide programs can use funds to benefit every student at the school, regardless of their academic performance. In order to enact a Schoolwide program, a Title I school must have at least 40% of its students receiving FARMs and go through a conversion process. The Attendance Area Committee discussion addressed the transition of Title I schools from having Schoolwide to Targeted Assistance programs if re-districting caused their FARMs percentage to drop below 40% and transitioning from a Title I school to a non-Title I school if re-districting caused them to no longer be one of the elementary schools with the highest percentages of students receiving FARMs.

*Some request language is summarized to include the requester's specific document requests and legally protected information (such as personally identifiable information of a student) or personal, defamatory and malicious content removed at the discretion of the school system.

**Responses containing legally protected information available only to the person of interest are omitted from the above report.

***Howard County Public Schools reserves the right to remove erroneous or outdated documents from this site.