My kid's school lost all Title 1 funding

[Gentlegreen]

Educators, or anyone else in the know, please enlighten me as to what this means. The staff are all unsure of how this will affect the school other than it will do so in a profound way. The school is a "Title 1" school and this is wiping out 1/3 of their budget. Why would this funding be taken away? The answers I get are vague and seem to indicate that this is just the latest budget cut to come down the pike from a strapped federal government. Is this general money or is it supposed to be directed into specific programs? Is anybody else's district faced with this?

[mommy22]

You should do a computer search for title 1 funding. I believe it has something to do with state funding for disadvantaged children. The funding helps the school provide the extras for these children.

Is your school private or public? Do have other options for schooling for your children.

You need to research this on the web, and then demand information from your school so that you know exactly what this means for the future of your school.

[Sneezykids]

I believe title 1 funding is for a reading program to make sure ALL kids are reading. Did you find out anything? I hope so. That is too bad that happened.

[Indigo73]

Title I is funding for underprivledged children.

http://www.ed.gov/offices/OUS/PES/ed...dvantaged.html

[Gentlegreen]

Man, this school is in the process of being reduced to a shadow of it's former self. Title 1 is apparently tied to the the relative prosperity of the community. The official word from the federal level is that the cuts are due to the results of the last census indicating that the need is no longer there, which is a profoundly inaccurate conclusion as anyone in the town knows. There is a high degree of unemployment and underemployment. Two businesses of only a handful in the town have shut down in the last year. Most of the kids are on reduced or free lunch. The cuts were supposed to take place slowly over time, but after a war and a tax cut, well, it's all gone now. All the schools up and down the valley were I live have had anywhere from 40 to 100% cuts in Title 1.

This school is a gem. Little, nestled in a mountain community, 40 some students in PK-7th. Small multi-age classrooms, individual attention, emphasis on the arts, lots of field trips and off campus learning, much effort put into teaching positive social interaction between students, lots of parental involvement, and on and on. Not perfect, but pretty great in the world of public school. Now, the preschool is gone, the incredible, irreplacable art and tech teacher, the music teacher of 12 some years, the field trips, etc. Only two teachers will be left to teach in two classrooms (K-3 and 4-7) with no teachers aides. After next year, the school may have to close and the kids bussed to overcrowded schools in the surrounding larger communities. What a loss. The staff and school board are trying hard to be creative and chase grants, looking into making it a cooperative school, establishing foundation funding, but they are devastated behind the doing-our best-to-remain-optimistic face they put on.

My kids won't be going there next year as DD is moving on to 8th grade and middle school (going from a class of three 7th graders in a podunk town to one of 200 8th graders in a bit larger podunk town-yipes!) DS is returning to homeschooling. So, it is not hitting us that hard personally, but I am still in a state of grief. If you could only sit in the classroom, gaze out the windows at the towering mountains all around, talk with some of the students and experience the sense of community, you would get a sense of what this school is all about, and you would grieve, too.

[lauren]

So sorry....the school sounds wonderful, and the decision terrible. Is there a way to appeal this decision? Has someone explored this?

[Gentlegreen]

That's one of the first questions I asked. Apparently, once it's gone that's it. No appeal, no chance for reinstatement. One third of their budget! Pretty crazy.....

[lauren]

I'm sure people have already thought of this, but sometimes if your federal representatives or senators are contacted about such a thing, they can get things turned around. It seems like they should at least be made aware of such a thing happening and the impact on the community. Maybe they can tuck some bit of funding into an otherwise unrelated bill that gets passed...they do this all the time

[Gentlegreen]

They are doing everything they can possibly think of. The principal is really good at chasing money, dealing with politicians, and bringing attention to the school. There was an article about the school in the Seattle Times yesterday. It was kind of funny because the principal made a tongue-in-cheek comment about buying lottery tickets to try and save the school and they made that a focus of the article. It said that he goes to the little general store in town twice a week to purchase tickets. The store doesn't even have a lotto machine! It also mentioned how the PK teacher (who is a Mothering reading, BF, AP, hairy legged, new mom) is trying to establish a cooperative preschool on the premises. She is willing to forgo a salary and just work for benefits! Pretty amazing folks up there in the hills. My daughter was also quoted in the article. She said, "I feel sorry for the kids who are younger than me if they don't get to go to school here. Here, I've been able to get more time with the teachers and more attention, and I know I wouldn't have gotten that at a larger school." Don't know if the publicity will help, but it can't hurt.