Most CMS schools were low-income. Here’s why even more are now eligible for aid
A majority of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools will receive Title I money this year because of the percentage of low-income students enrolled at their schools.
District officials announced Tuesday 102 schools will qualify for the funds this year. The money is provided to schools with high percentages of students from low-income families to help them meet academic standards. That’s about 10 additional schools from last year in a district that already saw most of its schools receiving the federal help. The numbers mean the schools have poverty levels of 75% or higher for 2023-24.
CMS plans to spend more than $52 million on academic support to Title I schools, including parent and family engagement, early childhood programs and administration, according to plans presented to the school board Tuesday.
”Too often, assumptions are made that Title I is negative,” said Katie Sunseri, CMS’ executive director for federal programs. “Or it indicates something negative about the school or the students or the teachers. It’s critically important that we all work together to ensure those assumptions are corrected. Title I programming is really about getting more resources to our schools, and those resources benefit CMS students.”
Under Title I law, schools are selected using income data such as free and reduced lunch or Community Eligibility Provision data, Sunseri told The Charlotte Observer.
North Carolina also uses data from social programs to establish income status per school, Sunseri said. This year, the state added Medicaid participation to the calculation. The addition of Medicaid, which provides health insurance to people and families considered low-income, created an increase in the number of schools with poverty levels at 75% or above — not just in CMS but across the state.
“Since an additional data point was included, comparing last year to this year would not be comparing apples to apples,” she said.
Over 56% of the district’s 180-plus schools are eligible to receive Title I money.
Schools new to the list include two new elementary schools: Esperanza Global Academy in east Charlotte and Grove Park Elementary in northeast Charlotte; and eight existing schools: Rocky River High, J.M Alexander Middle, and Clear Creek, Berewick, Oaklawn, Mint Hill, Pineville and Dorothy Vaughn elementary schools.
“As a result of more CMS schools falling at or above 75%, more CMS students, teachers, school leaders and schools will benefit from the additional resources and support provided by the Title I program,” Sunseri said.
How district serves Title 1 schools
Under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, a bill signed in 2015 as the successor to No Child Left Behind, the district must serve all schools that meet the 75% and above poverty percentage under Title I.
But the district can select to serve additional schools under the 75% threshold, which CMS did in previous years. Last year, when 11 schools were newly designated Title I, county leaders told the Observer they could be doing more, including helping families who experience housing instability.
“If our entire community could rally behind one idea alone — that stabilizing these housing-insecure families — then we could focus our efforts and resources that will have a trickle-down effect producing stronger student outcomes and higher chance of upward mobility for future generations to come,” Mecklenburg County Commissioner Laura Meier said at the time. “It’s not just either or between (the) county and CMS — it’s all of us.”
Glenn Starnes, the principal of Harding University High, a Title I school, said the funding has allowed staff to have coaches and helped students meet participation goals for the first time in years. Harding University High has increased its enrollment in Advanced Placement classes by 112% for the upcoming school year, too.
“As we think about Title I, we could not do the work that we do at Harding University High School without this additional funding,” Starnes said.
This story was originally published July 12, 2023 at 7:30 AM.
