District has to share its Title I cash

• By law, private schools get portion of federal funds for poor kids

By Jennifer Anderson

The Portland Tribune, Apr 11, 2008, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (14 Reader comments)

jIM CLARK / TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO

Portland school board members David Wynde and Bobbie Regan, along with Ruth Adkins, were surprised to find out that a portion of district Title I funds are sent to private schools.

Just over half of the schools in the Portland school district share a pot of about $10 million in federal Title I money each year to help meet the needs of their poorest students.

The grant funds, which average around $200,000 to $300,000 per school, may be spent at the principal’s discretion and typically support things like full-day kindergarten, additional teachers’ aides, professional development and upgrades in technology.

But the federal money doesn’t just benefit public schools. As mandated by President Bush’s 2001 No Child Left Behind law, school districts must administer Title I money to all schools within their boundaries – even private schools – to help with the cost of educating their poor students.

In Portland next fall, a total of $648,000 is slated to go to 885 students at 31 private schools. Some schools, like Trinity Lutheran in Northeast, get a small sum of $2,205, which goes to teacher training or part-time teachers to assist three students.

Holy Cross School in St. Johns receives larger grants of $125,720 to assist 172 of its eligible students.

Board members didn’t know

All but five of the 31 private schools in the district will receive a portion of Title I funds next year.

That was a startling revelation last week to Portland school board members, who learned of this phenomenon during a presentation on how the district’s Title I funds are spent.

“I’m stunned,” said board member Bobbie Regan. “I just need to sit with this information for a while.” Even though the board hadn’t been explicitly aware, private schools have been receiving Title I money since at least the mid-1990s, said Susan Kosmala, the district’s Title I director.

“It’s a high-maintenance piece,” Kosmala said. “It costs a lot. But on top of that, it’s the administration piece, sending $600,000 all over the city. It’s very labor-intensive. They need a lot of hand-holding, don’t understand federal policy, don’t understand district procedures. But it’s not something we shoot flares over. It’s just part of something we have to do.”

Particularly shocking, Regan and fellow board members David Wynde and Ruth Adkins said, is the difference in the way the grant money is allocated to private schools and public schools.

Portland’s public elementary and middle schools receive Title I money if 40 percent or more of their students qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program, the widely used indicator of poverty in schools. That threshold may change to 43 percent next year. High schools in Portland must meet a threshold of 75 percent to receive any funds.

But for private schools, no matter what grade level, there is no threshold.

If a single student at a private school qualifies for the free or reduced-price lunch program, the school district must administer its portion of Title I dollars. Typically, the funds go to pay for additional teacher training or lessons that benefit those eligible students, Kosmala said.

‘Our children deserve it, too’

At North Portland’s Holy Redeemer School, Principal Anna Raineri said she’ll spend her school’s $81,000 in Title I money to pay for two half-time teachers to assist its 111 students in reading and math. “Our children deserve it, too,” she said. “Any child who needs extra help ought to be able to get it.”

For each student who qualifies for free or reduced-price lunch at the elementary level, a school receives $725. At the middle school level, it’s $652. And for high schools and any school designated as “high poverty” (having 75 percent or more of their students qualify for free or reduced meals), the allotment is $735 per child.

Wynde said the apparent double standard in distributing the funds is disturbing. A poor student at Woodstock Elementary, Madison High School or any other of the 40 Portland public schools that do not meet the threshold do not reap the benefits of Title I dollars.

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