Education for the Disadvantaged: ESEA Title I Allocation Formula Provisions

Publication Date: January 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Education

Type:

Abstract:

Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) authorizes federal aid to state and local educational agencies (SEAs, LEAs) for the education of disadvantaged children. Title I grants are used to provide supplementary educational and related services to low-achieving children attending schools with relatively high concentrations of pupils from low-income families. For FY2000, the total funding for Title I, Part A is $8.6 billion. The Title I allocation formulas are important not only because of the size of this program, but also because some or all of the grants under numerous other federal education programs are made in proportion to Title I allocations. Title I was last reauthorized and substantially revised in 1994, by the Improving America's Schools Act (IASA), and it will likely be considered for reauthorization by the 107th Congress.

In general, federal aid program formula factors are intended to reflect the basic purpose of the program, putting congressional intent into concrete form. In addition to targeting schools and districts with the greatest need for Title I services, the formulas may also attempt to recognize differences in fiscal capacity and in the costs of providing program services, and provide incentives to adopt certain policies deemed desirable, such as increased state and local spending for education or greater equity in school finance systems.

Two formulas -- Basic and Concentration Grants -- are currently used to allocate Title I funds. Two further formulas -- Targeted and Education Finance Incentive Grants -- were authorized in 1994 but have not yet been implemented. While there are four authorized formulas, all funds are combined at the LEA level and used for a single program. The two primary factors in both of the allocation formulas currently in use are a population factor -- primarily school-age children in poor families, according to the latest available census data -- and an expenditure factor, which is based on each state's average expenditure per pupil for public elementary and secondary education. Within LEAs, Title I funds are allocated to the schools with relatively high percentages or numbers of pupils from low-income families.

While the Title I allocation formulas were a major focus of debates during the last reauthorization of Title I, few of the numerous major formula changes adopted in 1994 have been fully implemented.