Tuesday, February 9, 2016

President's budget doesn't really increase Title I

Per both Politico and EdWeek, while there is an increase in the dollar amount proposed for Title I, it's essentially just the School Improvement Grant money merging over under the 7% set-aside called for under the new federal education law (and depending on how that works out, districts could get less, rather than even the same amount).
IDEA is frozen, as well.
There's an increase for Career and Technical Ed (up $77M), an increase for preschool development (up $100M), a new "Computer Science for All" proposal ($100M), PLUS Charter School Grants get a $17 million boost over current $350 million and Magnet Schools Assistance gets an additional $18M to bring it to $115 million.
Also, this on an ESSA outcome:
The president's budget is also expected to seek $500 million for the new block grant program in the just-passed Every Student Succeeds Act, into which a number of other programs were consolidated. 
The administration wants to put a twist on that program, though. Instead of having the money go out by formula to states and then districts, as it does under ESSA, it would first go by formula to states, who would then send it out competitively. And the grants would be at least $50,000. 
Under ESSA, districts that receive less than $30,000 from the block grant don't have to abide by the rules in the law for using it. But, if the grants are as big as $50,000 districts who get them would have to spend at least 20 percent on one activity that helps improve student health and safety, and another 20 percent on at least one activity that helps students become more well-rounded. And they couldn't spend more than 15 percent of the funding on technology infrastructure.
U.S. DoE memo is here. 

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