[California] Dispute starts on schools' anti-poverty funds

From Sign On San Diego

By Helen Gao
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

A fight is brewing over how the San Diego Unified School District should allocate $25.5 million in federal anti-poverty funding intended to supplement the education of disadvantaged students.

The central question is whether more of the money should be given to schools with the highest poverty levels.

If the change is made, schools with lower poverty levels would lose tens of thousands of dollars they have come to rely on to pay for everything from extra nursing and counseling services to class-size reduction.

The money is part of $45.7 million in Title I funding the district is expected to receive next school year. About $19 million would be spent on districtwide tutoring, teacher training and other programs. Nearly $1 million would go to qualifying private schools.

The rest is to be sent directly to schools, where teachers, parents and administrators can decide how best to spend the money to improve achievement.

Yesterday, the school board discussed a proposal that would raise the poverty threshold for Title I funding.

Poverty at a school is defined by the number of students who qualify for free or reduced-price meals.

District staffers proposed the change because the poorest schools also tend to be the lowest-achieving.

But opponents of the change noted that schools that don't meet the higher poverty thresholds – proposed to be raised to 60 percent for elementary schools, 50 percent for middle schools and 60 percent for high schools – still serve significant numbers of poor students.

The district's threshold to qualify for Title I funding is now 40 percent.

The higher thresholds, if enacted, would affect about two dozen schools, including some that are projected to fall short by 1 percent or less. The money the schools have come to rely on would be taken away while schools already are financially squeezed.

But even for the poorest schools, there will be less money next school year. The federal government is expected to allocate $6 million less to the district because the overall poverty level in San Diego is lower than it was in the past relative to other parts of the country, according to census figures.

Jill Molyneaux, president of the PTA at Spreckels Elementary School in University City, said the PTA does not have the ability to raise large amounts of money year after year to cover funding shortfalls.

Molyneaux was among more than 20 parents, teachers and principals who protested the proposed change.

While trustee Shelia Jackson backed the change, a majority of the school board members expressed reservations or opposition.

The board will decide on the allocation formula in January.

Under the current formula, trustee Katherine Nakamura noted, schools with higher levels of poverty already receive more Title I funding per student than those with lower poverty levels. The formula has three funding tiers that award progressively more to schools, depending on poverty.