Four Montgomery County elementary schools will not be designated as Title 1 schools next year, meaning they will receive fewer federal dollars and not be able to afford the extra staff they currently have.
Brookhaven, Veirs Mill, Oak View and Strathmore elementary schools did not meet the criteria to remain as Title 1 schools for several reasons.
There are about 40 elementary and five middle schools in the county that qualify as Title 1 schools.
Previously, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) used the number of students qualifying for free and reduced meals to calculate the poverty levels of a school’s study body. Now, the criterium is how many students receive direct aid from the federal government.
In part, MCPS changed the criterium, because students attending certain schools now automatically receive free meals, as do many students in the district, even if their families do not fill out the proper forms.
“Families have no motivation” to fill out the forms when they know their children will get free breakfasts and lunches in school anyway, noted Brian Hull, MCPS Chief Operating Officer.
However, when MCPS moved to only include students receiving federal aid, undocumented students were no longer counted.
Danielle Ring, PTA president at Bel Pre an, Strathmore elementary schools, told Board of Education members at their Thursday meeting that 2% of the students at Strathmore are undocumented and therefore not eligible to receive money from some federal programs.
Yet, the students need the extra support from paraeducators, and staff involved in wellbeing, she said.
Stephanie Hammel, who teaches at Strathmore, said that 10 students in one of her classes arrived in the United States within the past two years. “That is a lot. I know the story of most of those students, and I know most of those students are undocumented.”
However, she told BOE members, without special attention, these students will suffer setbacks.
Stacey Lynch, a fourth grade teacher at Strathmore, asked the board, “How is this equitable?”
Title 1 schools are reevaluated annually, explained Dr. Peggy Pugh, chief academic officer at MCPS.
Under federal guidelines, schools are ranked by poverty indicators. With MCPS no longer relying on forms from students for free meals, some rankings changed, Pugh said.
MCPS has 2,306 fewer students than it did the previous school year. Also, in the county as a whole, people living in poverty dropped by 1.7%. Those two factors mean MCPS will receive fewer federal dollars for Title 1.
It would cost about $400,000 for MCPS to designate one school at a Title 1 school, Pugh said.
While she noted that the change for those four schools “will be painful,” she said that MCPS’ Title 1 officers will work with each school.
