The following information was provided in part by Dr. Karen Furman, Deputy Superintendent for Kennedale ISD
Kennedale ISD is a Title I school district. Title I is part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act passed by Congress in 1965 with the last re-authorization in 2001 under President George Bush. {{more}}This portion of the Education Act provides schools with high numbers of children from low-income families, finance assistance to help ensure all children meet state academic standards. TitleI read more
.Although Title I is a federal entitlement grant, funding for Kennedale ISD and other Texas school districts is allocated by the State of Texas.
Over 21 million students nation wide are served by Title I
The most recent national data available for Title 1 from the US Department of Education is from the 2009-10 school year. That year more than 56,000 public schools used Title I funds to supplement education programs serving more than 21 million students. According to Great
Schools NCLB
, over 50% of schools are currently receiving Title 1 funding.Title I funding is also tied to the No
Child Left Behind
requirements. Schools using Title I funding must demonstrate adequate yearly progress or AYP for the students and campuses. Texas schools received a waiver from some of the requirements of NCLB last year. But, Texas and its school districts must meet the following requirements:
- demonstrate that they had adopted or would implement a series of reforms to their academic standards, student assessments, and accountability systems for schools and educators.
- implement 1) college- and career-ready standards and assessments that measure student achievement and growth;
- implement a differentiated accountability system that both recognizes high-achieving, high progress schools (reward schools) and supports chronically low-achieving schools (priority and focus schools); and
- implement teacher and principal evaluation and support systems to improve instruction.
An increase of students who qualify as low-income
With the downturn in the economy several years back and only now slowly recovering, Kennedale ISD saw a growth in the number of low-income families in the district. Schools enrolling at least 40% of children from low-income families are eligible to use Title I funds for school programs.
Kennedale ISD has used Title I funds to support schoolwide programs on all campuses for the last three years. The funds are supplemental and do not take away from existing funds provided by the state or other federal programs. This means that Kennedale is able to use these funds to enhance existing academic programs. For the school year 2014-15, the Title I funds are approximately $350,000.
