Stafford School Board Discusses Recommended Title I Funding
Staff recommend that one of the two new elementary schools opening in August receive federal Title I funds.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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One of the two new elementary schools opening in Stafford this fall is recommended to receive Title I funding.
Last spring, division staff expected that both new schools would be eligible to receive Title I funding, but based on current projections, only Falls Run Elementary is within the threshold.
Falls Run is one of the eight schools that division staff identified as being eligible for the federal funds, which are used to help students at low-income schools meet academic standards.
At a work session on Tuesday, division staff presented their methodology for identifying Title I schools for the next school year.
Elementary schools were identified based on whether 40% or more of the enrolled population is directly certified by the state of Virginia as being eligible to receive free or reduced-price lunch.
Students who receive benefits from the state through such programs as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or who are experiencing homelessness or are in foster care, are directly certified for free and reduced-price lunch, Chris Fulmer, Stafford’s deputy superintendent explained.
The division receives a list of direct-certified students in the spring, Fulmer said, and used that list to determine which schools should receive Title I funding.
Seventy-four percent of the Grade 1-5 population of Falls Run Elementary, which is located on the same campus as the new Hartwood High School, is projected to be directly-certified, according to information presented Tuesday.
The other elementary schools recommended for Title I funding next year—all of which received Title I funding this year—are Anne E. Moncure and Kate Waller Barrett, which each will have 83% direct-certified; Rocky Run and Widewater, each at 66%; and Falmouth, at 64%.
Drew and Shirley Heim middle schools are also recommended to receive Title I funds next year.
The other new elementary school—Crow’s Nest Elementary, located next to Brooke Point High School in the Aquia district—is projected to open with 36% of the Grade 1-5 population directly-certified for free and reduced lunch.
School Board members were surprised to see the projections for Crow’s Nest.
“The number is so different than what we were provided during redistricting,” Chair Elizabeth Warner said. “I’m worried that federal funding cuts have impacted these direct certification numbers. It will be interesting to see what the [free and reduced lunch] applications look like” for the school.
Ferry Farm, Conway, and Anthony Burns elementary schools received Title I funds this year, but will now fall below the 40% eligibility threshold. The principals of these schools are aware and have plans for how to move forward without the supplemental funding, Fulmer said.
Stafford expects to receive about $2.9 million in Title I funding next fiscal year, which is about $15,000 more than this year. The biggest chunk of this funding—$531,617—will be allocated to Falls Run.
The School Board is expected to approve the Title I recommendations on June 9.
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