What’s churning:
A new U.S. Department of Education study finds a significant percentage of Title I schools around the nation aren’t getting the same levels of state and local funding as non-Title I schools in the same districts.
Title I is a 46-year-old portion of federal education law that provides extra funding to schools with high percentages of low-income students. The funding is supposed to supplement, not be used in place of, state and local financial support.
But the DOE study found that 46 percent of Title I elementary schools had per-pupil state and local spending on staff below the average for non–Title I elementary schools in their district. The figures were 42 percent for middle schools and 45 percent for high schools.
The report did not break out percentages by state, so there’s no overall information on where Colorado stands compared to other states. DOE did provide a district-by-district spreadsheet. EdNews reviewed the numbers for the state’s largest districts and found spending per-student on salaries was higher in Title I schools than in non-Title schools in both Jefferson County and Denver. For example, Jeffco averaged $4,050 per-student on personnel in its 23 Title I schools compared to $3,762 in its 132 non-Title schools. Denver averaged $3,429 on staff at its 92 Title I schools versus $3,422 at its 47 non-Title schools.
In Cherry Creek and Adams 12, non-Title schools averaged higher spending on staff than Title I schools. Cherry Creek’s 11 Title I schools averaged $4,093 per student on staffing versus $4,099 at 45 non-Title schools. Adams 12’s 13 Title I schools averaged $3,150 per-pupil spending on staff compared to $3,464 at 36 non-Title schools. Douglas County, the state’s third largest district and one of its most affluent, does not receive federal Title I funding.
Statewide, Colorado’s 603 Title I schools averaged $3,605 per-student on staffing compared to the $3,758 per-pupil on staffing spent at the state’s 965 non-Title schools.
Per-pupil spending on staff actually isn’t the standard currently used to determine if districts are funding Title I schools properly. According to officials at the Colorado Department of Education, current federal regulations require that Title I and non-Title I schools have similar teacher-student ratios. If a school can’t meet that standard, there are alternate measures that can be used, including per-pupil spending on staff salaries.
Federal DOE officials and some lawmakers such as U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., think the regulations should be changed to use the per-pupil spending measure.
Title I, from eligibility to funding, is a head-hurting, complicated subject. Alyson Klein, a reporter for our partner Education Week, has a good explanation of the study and the broader issue – read it here.
Improving teacher quality by giving teachers access to professional development and college coursework is the focus of a new federal grant program. The effort, which will tap $680,000 in grants for Colorado, is designed to improve partnerships between institutions of higher education and school districts.
Targeted school districts include Denver Public Schools, Greeley District 6 and five rural BOCES or Boards of Cooperative Educational Services, which provide services such as special education to districts. Both districts and the five BOCES failed to meet federal guidelines for qualified teachers and annual student progress for three consecutive years under the federal government’s accountability system.
Projects at Colorado colleges and universities to receive grant funding include:
- The University of Denver’s Morgridge College of Education, the University of Denver’s Division of Natural Science and Mathematics, and DPS will partner to support elementary teachers in improving content mastery in math and science.
- The University of Northern Colorado’s College of Education and Behavioral Sciences, Greeley District 6 and the BOCES will partner to provide professional development in linguistically diverse education.
“Studies consistently tell us that the greatest potential to influence children’s education is a highly effective teacher,” said DHE Executive Director and Lt. Gov. Joseph Garcia in a prepared statement. “That is why this partnership is so important. The more that higher education and K-12 can work together to improve teacher quality and effectiveness through professional development, the more we are helping our students succeed.”
The Board of Trustees that oversees the institution now known as Metropolitan State College of Denver today will consider new recommendations from its Strategic Name Initiative Committee. That committee met late Wednesday and was deciding what name to send to the trustees based on surveys of students, faculty, alumni and the community. Those surveys tested three variables of the same four words:
- Denver Metropolitan State University
- Denver State Metropolitan University
- Metropolitan Denver State University
The trustees don’t have the final say. They will send their favorite to the state legislature. The public session for the trustees today is 8:30 – 11:30 a.m. in Tivoli Room 320 on the Metro campus, downtown Denver.
Upcoming:
Expert panelists at this month’s Buechner Breakfast will discuss DPS’ ProComp compensation system and a recent evaluation of that system by the University of Colorado Denver.
The session will be held from 7:30 to 9 a.m. Friday at 1380 Lawrence St. in the second floor meeting area. The event also will be webcast; use this link to view – https://connect.cuonline.edu/bbff.
The Buechner Breakfast is a monthly event sponsored by the UCD School of Public Affairs.
Good reads from elsewhere:
The New York Times combed through data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and found a major surge in the number of American schoolchildren who are receiving free or low-cost meals for the first time as the economy’s slide has taken its toll on family incomes. The number of students receiving subsidized lunches rose to 21 million last school year, up from 18 million in 2006-2007. That’s a 17 percent increase. An interactive map that accompanies the story shows Colorado had a 5.7 percent increase from 2007 to 2011. Currently, 45.9 percent of Colorado students are eligible for free and reduced-price meals.