Put Title I to Use for Early Learning!

We have assembled some information on how local early learning efforts can access the federal Title I funding.

All decisions for Title I are made at the local level at the Local Education Agency/school district. Connecting with the appropriate LEA/school district staff, prepared with Title I funding requirements and allowable expenditures, can help frame the discussion. This is a great opportunity for local early learning coalitions to engage with school districts locally. All spokespersons from the Obama Administration continue to stress early education in the Title I mix, including during last week's meeting held by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, Joe and Jill Biden with state chief school officers (state superintendents).

Listed below is some of the resource information from the national conference call on Title I and early childhood. There are some useful hotlinks, as well as the attached document from Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP). The call was initiated by Pre-K Now so the focus was on Pre-K but don’t think that is what they mean by early education. That is just Pre-K Now’s focus. The Title I funds can be spent much more broadly in early learning, and the pot of funds are VERY Flexible. But you need to be at your local table!!

The focus of the call was on Title I funds
• $13 billion in Title I money is included in the recovery package,
• B-5 is an allowable use under Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Title I – Possible uses are:
1. Fund new children in existing programs at schools or community based programs
2. Fund an extension to the day for programs (from part-day to full-day)
3. Fund expansion to services (comprehensive: nutrition; vision & hearing screening and social services) to build quality
4. Must fund HQ programs
5. Fund teacher professional development
6. Partnerships and collaborations
• ARRA conference report includes the following statement: “The conferees expect States to use some of the funding provided for early childhood programs and activities”
• Using these funds effectively will require creative thinking and collaboration with school districts.

Resources specific to Title I funds:
• Education Department ARRA page on estimated Title I allocations to ...
• Press release on Title I in ARRA from Montgomery County Public Schools and related report on MCPS full-day pre-k.
• CLASP presentation on Title I and Pre-K and CLASP brief on Title I
Other helpful resources:
• Updated: Pre-K Now matrix of ARRA provisions pertaining to early childhood education
• Launched today: Education Recovery and Reinvestment Center by Learning Point Associates
• New: ED Daily News Roundup
• Education Department ARRA information page – includes links to information on Fiscal Stabilization Fund, school modernization, and budget news
• NCSL Summary of Education Provisions in ARRA
• Summary and analysis of education funding from the Education Commis..., including state-by-state estimates
• Summary and analysis from the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, including state-by-state estimates

Tags: funding, infant, preschool, toddler

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Comment by Brian Kenneweg on March 15, 2009 at 4:02pm: New York Times article: "U.S. to Nation’s Schools: Spend Fast, Keep Receipts"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/09/education/09educ.html?_r=1

March 9, 2009
U.S. to Nation’s Schools: Spend Fast, Keep Receipts

By SAM DILLON
Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, sent a message to the nation’s school officials last week: Heads up! We’ll be sending you billions of dollars by month’s end. Spend the money quickly but wisely. And keep receipts; we’ll be asking.

The message, which went out Friday in documents e-mailed to governors, state education commissioners and thousands of school superintendents, provided the first broad guidelines for how the Education Department intends to channel $100 billion to the nation’s 14,000 school districts over the next few months. The expenditure is part of the Obama administration’s economic stimulus package.

Some $44 billion will be made available to states before the end of this month, Mr. Duncan said, in the hope that layoffs can be averted. Hundreds of thousands of job losses in schools had been projected for the fall because of growing state budget deficits caused by a steep drop in tax revenues.

More school stimulus money will be distributed in the spring through the fall, the documents said, after states apply for the financing and provide Congressionally mandated “assurances” to Mr. Duncan that they are complying with federal education laws.

“Spend funds quickly to save and create jobs,” a five-page guidance document sent to the education officials said. It also urged educators to use the money in the stimulus package, known as the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, in ways that “improve school achievement through school improvement and reform.” It also warned them to keep records of expenditures.

The guidance admonished educators to spend the stimulus money, which is temporary, in ways that would minimize the dislocation that could follow when it ran out in two years. Some department officials are describing the exhaustion of the stimulus money in two years as a “cliff” over which school districts could plunge if they do not spend the money wisely.

The money to be made available to states this month includes $5 billion in Title I financing, for disadvantaged students; about $6 billion for disabled students; and about $33 billion in fiscal stabilization money, which governors are to use to replenish education programs slashed in recent years and to prevent cuts to state education budgets for the coming school year.