The appropriations bill passed by the House that cut (among other things*) $700 million from Title I will be considered, along with an alternative bill, sometime soon (it's unclear when) by the Senate.
Title I is one of the good guys in federal funding. It doesn't come tied to a lot of dubious politics or flavor-of-the-week educational theories. It goes right to poor kids. It gets used in their classrooms for teachers, for instructional assistants, for anything that would "supplement" their education.
The Worcester Public Schools get $13 million a year in Title I funds, and that's what we use it for.
This is a hit we can't use this year. Please call your senator (the main line is 202.224.3121) and ask them to oppose HR 1 (or cuts to Title I).
*Additional programs that would be impacted by H.R. 1 include: School Improvement Grants (a $336 million cut); Head Start (a $1 billion cut); Striving Readers (proposed for elimination – a $250 million program); Teacher Quality (more than a $500 million cut); State Education Technology grants (proposed for elimination – a $100 million program); Career and Technical Education (a $100 million cut); and School Health (more than $450 million in proposed cuts to multiple programs within the Department of Health and Human Services). Worcester currently gets SIG funds (that's the level 4 schools, but I think the ones we have are fully funded) and Head Start about which I've written previously.
Update: The Senate voted BOTH bills down. Now they have until March 18 to come up with a compromise (or another short-term spending bill).
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