Title I Spending

Title I is included in the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The goal of the Act is to fund primary and secondary education in schools with a high percentage of students from low-income families. The point of the funds is to improve professional development, educational program support resources, and instructional materials. Title I funding is regulated by the No Child Left Behind organization. In order for a school to qualify for the funding, 40% or more of the students must come from families that qualify as low-income.

In this study, questionnaires were completed by four different schools, revealing the percentage of low-income families as well as the demographics of the schools. The aspects that were improved by the funding in the four schools include: more teachers, teaching assistants, a pre-kindergarten program, curriculum specialists, computers and software, and books. Although the schools had somewhat similar demographics, the funds were spent differently. A school with 241 students belonging to low-income families out of 344 students was funded $68,200; whereas, another school with 236 out of 311 students coming from low-income families was funded $120,000. Why would there be such a significant difference in the amount of money funded between two schools with such similar demographics? Julius Tillery, from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, responded saying, “many factors have an effect in deciding which schools get what amounts, for example, location plays a big part because of things like food and technology delivery and the cost to influence teachers to live and work where they are needed”.