The U.S. Department of Education is seeking public comment on a proposal to implement Title I, a measure intended to provide more educational funding for low-income students, and provide districts with more options for distributing them to its schools.

Local educators do not believe the proposal, if implemented, will mean substantial changes in how districts receive and distribute Title I funds.

Title I was introduced in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act in 1965 and provides funding to school districts to “improve the academic achievement of disadvantaged students,” said Nancy Rodriguez, spokeswoman for the Kentucky Department of Education, via email.

KDE is reviewing the proposal and will likely provide feedback, Rodriguez said, though she would not say if the department currently has a position on the proposal.

Larry Hammond, interim superintendent of Glasgow Independent Schools, said that, though the proposal would give districts more options in distributing Title I funds, it would have little effect on how the district goes about the process.

“There’s really not much change from what we’ve been accustomed to,” he said.

The proposal, if enacted, would affect how districts can distribute funds to their schools, but not how districts receive funds, which is based on how many district students are living in poverty.

According to KDE’s release, the proposal allows for different ways for districts to distribute Title I funds to be considered eligible for them, including distributions based on costs of personnel and resources and based on characteristics of a school’s students, such as the number of English learners, students living in poverty and students with learning disabilities.

Kelly Oliver, Glasgow Independent’s supervisor of federal programs, said the district received $800,000 in Title I funding last year.

The district then decides which schools to allocate money to based on test scores and the population of students eligible for free and reduced lunch, she said. 

“We take that money and we try to put it where it’s needed most,” she said.

Most of the district’s Title I funding goes to paying supplemental staff members, though a good deal of funding also goes to English and math initiatives and interventions, Oliver said.

“Those two basic areas are the two we’ve seen that really need extra support,” she said.

The Department of Education’s proposal, according to the KDE release, has resulted in some criticism. In a Brookings Institute report from November 2015, the nonprofit public policy organization stated that Title I has been largely ineffective.

Title I’s funding per student typically amounts to $500 to $600 per student, the Institute’s report said, adding that this is likely too small to put much of a dent in the achievement gap between students living in poverty and those who don’t.

According to Brookings’ analysis, professional development initiatives, such as teacher training, have been largely disliked by teachers, who feel the instruction is not tailored to their needs.

Conversely, Vicki Writsel, associate superintendent of the Bowling Green Independent School District, said Title I funding is important in her district.

The extra staff, teacher training and after-school tutoring Title I funding enables are valuable in the district for helping to narrow the achievement gap, she said.

“Title I allows us to level the playing field by allowing us to provide more staff for those schools,” she said.

— Follow reporter Jackson French on Twitter @Jackson_French or visit bgdailynews.com.