A Call for Education Equity
Title I was created "to ensure all children a fair and equal opportunity to obtain a high-quality education." However, the formula for distributing Title I funds is stacked against the very children it was most intended to help. The current formula (a complex combination of four formulas) favors large districts regardless of their child poverty rate while children trapped in areas of concentrated poverty in mid-sized cities and rural districts are seriously disadvantaged. The inequities between and within states are blatant and must be rectified in this reauthorization cycle.
Why should Mississippi, the state with the highest concentration of Title I eligible students (27.2%) and the highest concentration of child poverty (30.4%), get an average allocation of $1,318 for each Title I eligible student while Wyoming, with the lowest percent of Title I eligible students (11.6%) and a three times lower child poverty rate (11.6%), receives an average of $3,149 per Title I eligible student—a $1,831 difference per child?
And why should Virginia's Buchanan County Public School District, with over 30% Title I eligible students and a 28% child poverty rate, receive $1,363 per eligible student while Virginia's Henrico County Public Schools, with 9% Title I eligible students and a 10% child poverty rate, receive $1,943—almost $600 more per eligible student?
This is simply wrong and widens the opportunity gap between rich and poor districts and rich and poor children Title I was intended to help close. This resource inequity denies children in areas of concentrated poverty a way out and fuels the cradle-to-prison pipeline which is creating a new American apartheid. A revised and more just allocation must ensure ALL children an equal opportunity to learn and succeed. Injustice to any child or group of
