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"The world's favorite season is the spring. All things seem possible in May."
—Edwin Way Teale
May – the month of merriment. May you be warmed by the sun, the joy and laughter of your students, and the anticipation of the summer ahead.
Reviewing and Revising School Parent and Family Engagement Policies and Compacts
This is the time of year when many Title I schools begin reviewing school policies and compacts and, if needed, making changes to those documents to meet the changing needs of the school.
Schools should consider all feedback received from families – either at the school or district level – on parent and family engagement practices. Sharing district-level feedback is essential to your principals in completing this activity.
Beyond that, you will want to share the Effective School Parent and Family Engagement Policy Checklist and Effective School-Family Compact Checklist to help schools ensure that their documents meet requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act.
It is essential to remember that the policy should guide the parent and family engagement work at your schools and in your district. It outlines the strategies you will use to engage families. Your parent and family engagement funds should be used to accomplish the activities your school or district pledged to do in the policy.
Supporting Principals at Title I Schools
Sharing information and resources with principals at Title I schools is an important step in ensuring program compliance.
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) encourages district coordinators to share information presented in newsletters and webinars with building principals. Principals may benefit from reviewing sections of the Title I, Part A Handbook, bookmarking the Title I, Part A Documents and Resources webpage or subscribing to KDE newsletters.
Other stand-alone Title I, Part A resources to share with your school level leadership include:
Wrapping Up Equitable Services
The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) allows local educational agencies to carry over unobligated funds for equitable services, according to Title I, Part A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as Amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act: Providing Equitable Services to Eligible Private School Children, Teachers, and Families.
The guidance highlights, however, the requirement in ESEA Section 1117(a)(4)(B) to obligate funds for equitable services in the fiscal year the funds are received by the local education agency (LEA). This means there should almost never be carryover of funds, and in the rare instance when this occurs, the amount should be small.
The guidance provides two example circumstances for carryover that LEAs may encounter and how the LEA could use those funds in each situation. Note that in both cases, there were extraordinary circumstances beyond the district’s control:
- Equitable services for private school students are delayed due to natural disaster, delayed consultation, lack of qualified personnel or unexpected procurement challenges, resulting in an inability to provide equitable services or obligate funds by the end of the fiscal year. In this case, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) says the LEA must use funds to provide equitable services to eligible children in the affected schools the following year.
- A third-party equitable services provider contracted by the LEA submits an invoice for services in a private school for less than anticipated and late in the summer, limiting the LEA's ability to responsibly obligate funds by the end of the fiscal year. In this case, the LEA must consult with private school officials and use the funds to provide equitable services to children in the affected private school the following year. However, if services are declined by private school officials, the LEA must add the funds to the proportional share for equitable services provided by other private schools. If there are no other participating private schools, the LEA can use the funds to provide Title I services to public school students.
Final Allocations
As a reminder, FY2022 final allocations (Project 310I) have been uploaded into the Grant Management Application and Planning system (GMAP) for all districts whose original application had already been approved. When revising your application, be sure to check the following:
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District set-aside page: Verify the amount reserved for parent and family engagement (PFE) aligns with the amount budgeted in 310IM. A change in total allocation may have impacted the minimum amount required to reserve for PFE.
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Per Pupil Amount (PPA) page: Check the remaining balance to ensure it is as close to zero dollars as possible and is not negative. A negative remaining balance will be displayed within parentheses. As a reminder, the remaining balance on the PPA page can be adjusted by changing one or more of the PPAs or by changing the amount reserved on the district set-aside page. Part 7 of the GMAP training video series explains the relationship between the PPA page and the district set-aside page. For districts that have broken down the budget by location, a change in PPA will require changes to the budget page to ensure alignment.
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Private school page: A change in the district’s total allocation will impact the amount available for the provision of equitable services. Districts serving private schools must check the amounts on this page and ensure alignment with the 310IN and 310IP budgets.
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Budget page: Review the budget to check for alignment with the other pages of the application (district set-aside, PPA and private school pages). Part 10 of the GMAP training video series explains how to check for alignment between the budget page and other pages of GMAP.
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