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By Tom Chorneau
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Regulators from the U.S. Department of Education have flagged California schools for possible misuse of Title III money intended to provide additional support for English learners.
In regular compliance monitoring conducted earlier this spring, federal officials found evidence that the California Department of Education was not ensuring that local educational agencies were using the Title III money to supplement – not supplant – state funds for the same target group.
The supplement-not-supplant rule is one that characterizes virtually all federal education funding and one that is often misunderstood on the local level.
In general, this rule restricts LEAs and schools in the use of federal money for purposes that supplement and, to the extent practical, increase the level of services that would, in the absence of the federal funds, be made available from non-federal sources for the education of participating students.
At issue with the Title III money is a concern that CDE’s subgrantee monitoring reports do not address the supplement-not-supplant issues as they relate to a state categorical program – the Economic Impact Aid-Limited English Proficient.
“Specifically, the state does not distinguish that Title III funds should supplement the level of federal, state and local