43
Boardman schools to lose funds Title I federal funds
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
BOARDMAN
The district will lose approximately one quarter of its Title I funding for the 2010-2011 school year.
Funding is given to districts based on the number of students who receive free or reduced-price lunches, Wendy Carothers, district coordinator of special programs, told the board of education Monday.
Through the federally funded program, if more than 40 percent of children in a building receive free or reduced lunch, all children in the building are considered Title I and are eligible to receive reading and math intervention.
For the 2010-2011 school year, Carothers said, Market Street and Robinwood Lane Elementary schools fall in this category.
If the number of students receiving free or reduced lunch is below 40 percent, but higher than the district average, select students receive reading and math intervention.
This is the case with West Boulevard Elementary, Carothers said. At that school, 34 percent of the children receive free or reduced lunch. The district average is 33 percent.
The district is losing Title I funds, however, because Stadium Drive Elementary will no longer receive the federal monies.
Stadium Drive did not qualify in the 2008-2009 school year, but it was allowed a one-year grace period which was this school year, Carothers said.
Currently, six Title I tutors are employed for that building. They serve 70 children in reading and 54 in math.
The district has agreed to cover the cost of two intervention tutors to help fill the void left by the Title I loss.
All supplies and equipment purchased with Title I monies for that building must now be moved to the three buildings with Title I programs, she added.
In the 2009-2010 school year, $127,031.99 in Title I monies was spent on Title I tutors, supplies, and equipment for Stadium Drive Elementary.
“In my opinion, it won’t take too long before we start feeling the pain in that building,” she said. “You don’t always see what Title I contributes in a building.”