Summary of change to Focus/Title I school designations?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

I don't remember the cutoffs ever being specified. They may change from year to year. MCPS does publish a list of the Focus and Title I schools in chapter 3 of each CIP. Here is the current year's list (see page 3-3):

https://gis.mcpsmd.org/cipmasterpdfs/CIP25_Chapter3.pdf

The new CIP will come out in October, so we will probably not know next year's list until then.

When does the schools at a glance/school profiles data come out? Could try to triangulate based on farms rates and this year's list. Obviously won't work for the ones that give the free meals to all students.

The profiles are currently displaying 22-23 and 21-22 data, depending on which field.

Thanks. Do you know when the 23-24 data will come out?

The "enrollment" option on this dashboard shows FARMS rate and other info and claims to have 2024 data: https://ww2.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/data/individual-measures.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

The Oak View/NHE PTA folks did a really good presentation on this, but I don't have the link from the PTA meeting. Going from memory, federal law says that schools above a certain threshold (75% maybe) receive Title I funding. After that, districts have some discretion on how to use federal/state/local funds for schools that fall below that threshold but are still high needs, or have high needs populations within a higher-income school.

What happened this cycle is that several of the highest-needs schools stopped collecting FARMS forms because they were so far above the threshold that it made sense to just give everyone free breakfast/lunch than to use resources running down FARMS forms.

So, in the absence of FARMS forms, MCPS used a new formula that relies much more heavily on benefits that require interaction with the state and/or federal government. Moreover, they are using metrics that in a Trump Administration could lead people to be denied asylum status.

This requirement that families be registered with the federal government in ways that could impact their immigration proceedings disproportionately impacted schools with large Hispanic populations. So, schools that lost their status like Oak View and Viers Mill are majority Hispanic, and schools that gained Title I status are primarily Black/African immigrants.

For what it is worth, I would not expect those new categories to "hold" for next year. MCPS will change the formula again, which is going to be disruptive on all sides.

I think the changes are going to be thorny to undo for this reason- it will be a bad look if majority AA schools gain the funding only to lose it next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

The Oak View/NHE PTA folks did a really good presentation on this, but I don't have the link from the PTA meeting. Going from memory, federal law says that schools above a certain threshold (75% maybe) receive Title I funding. After that, districts have some discretion on how to use federal/state/local funds for schools that fall below that threshold but are still high needs, or have high needs populations within a higher-income school.

What happened this cycle is that several of the highest-needs schools stopped collecting FARMS forms because they were so far above the threshold that it made sense to just give everyone free breakfast/lunch than to use resources running down FARMS forms.

So, in the absence of FARMS forms, MCPS used a new formula that relies much more heavily on benefits that require interaction with the state and/or federal government. Moreover, they are using metrics that in a Trump Administration could lead people to be denied asylum status.

This requirement that families be registered with the federal government in ways that could impact their immigration proceedings disproportionately impacted schools with large Hispanic populations. So, schools that lost their status like Oak View and Viers Mill are majority Hispanic, and schools that gained Title I status are primarily Black/African immigrants.

For what it is worth, I would not expect those new categories to "hold" for next year. MCPS will change the formula again, which is going to be disruptive on all sides.

I think the changes are going to be thorny to undo for this reason- it will be a bad look if majority AA schools gain the funding only to lose it next year.

There was a Council Education Committee worksession this morning and it does sound like MCPS staff are planning to keep the same methodology for next year? And they are also not taking responsibility for not anticipating the need to collect FARMS data in CEP schools, just constantly referencing federal requirements as though their hands were tied, when they weren't. And saying this method is what the principals chose. I think that is so cowardly.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

Here is what the cutoffs were in 2018:

Focus (FARMS >35 percent and< 68.18 percent for 2 or more years)
Title I (FARMS> 68.18 percent)

https://www.montgomeryschoolsmd.org/siteassets/district/boe/meetings/memorandum/181017-es-staffing-model.pdf

I haven't found a more recent document.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

The Oak View/NHE PTA folks did a really good presentation on this, but I don't have the link from the PTA meeting. Going from memory, federal law says that schools above a certain threshold (75% maybe) receive Title I funding. After that, districts have some discretion on how to use federal/state/local funds for schools that fall below that threshold but are still high needs, or have high needs populations within a higher-income school.

What happened this cycle is that several of the highest-needs schools stopped collecting FARMS forms because they were so far above the threshold that it made sense to just give everyone free breakfast/lunch than to use resources running down FARMS forms.

So, in the absence of FARMS forms, MCPS used a new formula that relies much more heavily on benefits that require interaction with the state and/or federal government. Moreover, they are using metrics that in a Trump Administration could lead people to be denied asylum status.

This requirement that families be registered with the federal government in ways that could impact their immigration proceedings disproportionately impacted schools with large Hispanic populations. So, schools that lost their status like Oak View and Viers Mill are majority Hispanic, and schools that gained Title I status are primarily Black/African immigrants.

For what it is worth, I would not expect those new categories to "hold" for next year. MCPS will change the formula again, which is going to be disruptive on all sides.

I think the changes are going to be thorny to undo for this reason- it will be a bad look if majority AA schools gain the funding only to lose it next year.

There was a Council Education Committee worksession this morning and it does sound like MCPS staff are planning to keep the same methodology for next year? And they are also not taking responsibility for not anticipating the need to collect FARMS data in CEP schools, just constantly referencing federal requirements as though their hands were tied, when they weren't. And saying this method is what the principals chose. I think that is so cowardly.

Yeah at this point I think it’s intentional and they won’t admit it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

The Oak View/NHE PTA folks did a really good presentation on this, but I don't have the link from the PTA meeting. Going from memory, federal law says that schools above a certain threshold (75% maybe) receive Title I funding. After that, districts have some discretion on how to use federal/state/local funds for schools that fall below that threshold but are still high needs, or have high needs populations within a higher-income school.

What happened this cycle is that several of the highest-needs schools stopped collecting FARMS forms because they were so far above the threshold that it made sense to just give everyone free breakfast/lunch than to use resources running down FARMS forms.

So, in the absence of FARMS forms, MCPS used a new formula that relies much more heavily on benefits that require interaction with the state and/or federal government. Moreover, they are using metrics that in a Trump Administration could lead people to be denied asylum status.

This requirement that families be registered with the federal government in ways that could impact their immigration proceedings disproportionately impacted schools with large Hispanic populations. So, schools that lost their status like Oak View and Viers Mill are majority Hispanic, and schools that gained Title I status are primarily Black/African immigrants.

For what it is worth, I would not expect those new categories to "hold" for next year. MCPS will change the formula again, which is going to be disruptive on all sides.

I think the changes are going to be thorny to undo for this reason- it will be a bad look if majority AA schools gain the funding only to lose it next year.

There was a Council Education Committee worksession this morning and it does sound like MCPS staff are planning to keep the same methodology for next year? And they are also not taking responsibility for not anticipating the need to collect FARMS data in CEP schools, just constantly referencing federal requirements as though their hands were tied, when they weren't. And saying this method is what the principals chose. I think that is so cowardly.

Yeah at this point I think it’s intentional and they won’t admit it.

I agree. And I am stunned why no member of the BOE or the Council has simply asked, "Why did you instruct CEP schools not to collect FARMS applications? Surely, knowing the populations of these schools, you must have known they would have lower direct cert rates?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bump. I’ve always been confused by this and haven’t gotten clarification on the cutoffs for being a focus / title I school.

The Oak View/NHE PTA folks did a really good presentation on this, but I don't have the link from the PTA meeting. Going from memory, federal law says that schools above a certain threshold (75% maybe) receive Title I funding. After that, districts have some discretion on how to use federal/state/local funds for schools that fall below that threshold but are still high needs, or have high needs populations within a higher-income school.

What happened this cycle is that several of the highest-needs schools stopped collecting FARMS forms because they were so far above the threshold that it made sense to just give everyone free breakfast/lunch than to use resources running down FARMS forms.

So, in the absence of FARMS forms, MCPS used a new formula that relies much more heavily on benefits that require interaction with the state and/or federal government. Moreover, they are using metrics that in a Trump Administration could lead people to be denied asylum status.

This requirement that families be registered with the federal government in ways that could impact their immigration proceedings disproportionately impacted schools with large Hispanic populations. So, schools that lost their status like Oak View and Viers Mill are majority Hispanic, and schools that gained Title I status are primarily Black/African immigrants.

For what it is worth, I would not expect those new categories to "hold" for next year. MCPS will change the formula again, which is going to be disruptive on all sides.

Ironic, because virtually non of those Hispanics would qualify for asylum anyway AND the Biden administration threw out Trump's "public charge" rules and went back to the 1999 guidance for those who will later seek a green card.