Title I News

June 2024

Volume 8, Issue 6

"The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.”

― John F. Kennedy

Summer is here and the sun is shining. While the pace of our work may ease, let us not be tempted by complacency. These moments of respite are not merely downtime, but rather invaluable opportunities to strategize and plan for the challenges and triumphs that lie ahead in the upcoming school year.

Let us use this time wisely by investing in strategic planning, curriculum development and staff training, so that when the challenges of the upcoming school year arise, we are not caught off guard. Let us not squander these moments of reprieve, but rather harness them with purpose and vision, ensuring that every action we take propels us toward a brighter tomorrow for our students and communities.

Preparing for the FY25 GMAP Application

The summer months provide a great opportunity to work ahead in preparing for the release of the FY25 Grant Management Application and Planning (GMAP) application. By now, hold harmless amounts have likely been used to plan your set asides, private school proportionate share, school allocations and budgets. This will give you an easy roadmap once GMAP opens later in the summer.

But don’t stop there! Take this time to flesh out your budget narratives. Districts and schools in receipt of federal programmatic funds must justify the need for and use of those funds. Include information in your budget narratives that satisfy requirements in the Uniform Grants Guidance. Some criteria for determining allowability include:

• Necessary and reasonable.
• Support the intent of the program (allocable).
• Adequately documented.
• Consistent with policies, procedures and regulations.

In reviewing your application, your assigned Title I, Part A consultant should be able to determine from a few brief but descriptive details in your budget narratives that a planned cost is approvable. For example, a narrative that just says “field trips” will not be sufficient. Include details in your narrative that describe the trips planned, and how they are educationally related and tied to the state academic standards.

Now is a great time to review the January 2023 District Coordinator Webinar to familiarize yourself with KDE’s guidance on allowability. Pay particular attention to the guidance in this webinar on the allowable (and unallowable) uses of Title I parent and family engagement funds.

As always, reach out to your consultant if you have any questions.

Principal's Perspective – Title I Annual Meeting Requirement

Section 1116(c)(1) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) requires all schools receiving Title I funds to hold an annual parent meeting, to which all parents of participating students are invited, to discuss the school’s participation in the Title I, Part A program and parents’ right to participate in parent and family engagement activities.

These tips can maximize parent and family involvement when preparing for an annual Title I meeting: 

• Develop an organized agenda. Some discussion topics should include:
  • Explanation of the Title I, Part A program. Explain what it means to be a Title I school and how the school qualified.
  • A description of how the school is using its Title I funds to address identified needs within the school.
  • Information about state academic assessments, achievement levels of state assessments and the assessment forms used to measure student progress.
  • A review of the school and district family engagement policies.
  • A review of the school-family compact.
  • An explanation of parents’ right to be involved in the planning, design and implementation of the school’s parent and family engagement program (including how funds are spent). Consider using a survey to obtain feedback about events and activities parents would like to see during the upcoming school year.
  • Sharing information surrounding parents’ right to request information on teacher qualifications and testing transparency.
  • Any other information to help eliminate barriers to participation and increase parent involvement in their child’s education.

Note that the annual meeting is a good time to share the existing family engagement policy and compact, but schools should seek ways to gain additional feedback and review on these documents from all parents at times throughout the year, as these documents should be developed jointly with families. Policies and compacts should be reviewed periodically and revised to meet the changing needs of the parents and the school. Policy and compact templates, as well as requirement checklists and best practices, are available on KDE’s Title I, Part A Documents and Resources webpage.

Additionally, the annual meeting is a convenient time to explain the compact to all parents and obtain signatures. Keep in mind that the compact should be revisited annually at a conference event at the elementary level, at which time teachers must discuss it with parents in relation to their individual student’s academic achievement per ESSA 1116(d)(2)(A). The initial review of the compact at an event such as the annual meeting does not meet this requirement.

• Ensure high attendance. Hosting a stand-alone Title I annual meeting may not draw a large crowd. Instead, integrate your Title I presentation into another highly attended back-to-school event such as an Open House. Consider partnering with the parent-teacher organization, family resource youth services center (FRYSC) or community partners to provide food at the event. Some schools release highly anticipated information at the event, such as classroom placements or school supply lists. Additionally, to increase participation, ESSA 1116(c)(2) allows Title I funds to be used for childcare and transportation to Title I parent and family engagement events.
• Maintain flexibility. For families that cannot attend the meeting in person, provide access to the information in various ways, such as posting a video and resources to the school’s website, or even broadcasting the meeting live via the school’s social media platform(s). The annual meeting should be held at a convenient time to allow all parents to attend. The most convenient time and location for the annual meeting may vary from school to school and may change over time depending on the school’s parent population. It may be beneficial to offer a flexible number of meetings, including options for morning and night meetings, to increase family participation. If annual meeting attendance is low, analyze barriers to attendance and work to address them. Don’t get stuck in the rut of doing the same thing simply because that’s how you’ve always done it.
• Offer accommodations. To the extent practicable, provide information in a language that families can understand. Don't forget to accommodate parents with disabilities. Schools can provide interpreters, translated documents and assistive communication devices as necessary.
• Keep proper documentation. Schools should maintain documentation that the annual meeting was held and that all parents were invited to participate. Documentation of the Title I information shared during the meeting should also be saved. Common pieces of annual meeting documentation include:
  • Publicity for the event, such as flyers, school newsletters or take-home messages.
  • Sign-in sheets with parent signatures, time and date of meeting.
  • Agenda, meeting handouts and minutes.
  • Audio or video recordings of the meeting, which could also appear on the school website.
  • Invoices and receipts for costs related to the meeting, such as childcare, transportation and light refreshments.
  • Evidence of parent feedback, such as discussions and surveys, as well as analysis of that feedback.

Open Title I, Part A Projects and Associated Deadlines

Don’t forget to align your Grant Management Application and Planning (GMAP) application and MUNIS spending as needed. We recommend at least a quarterly alignment.

As a reminder, final allocations are now uploaded in GMAP for the FY24 application. If you have not already done so, please revisit your application to make the necessary adjustments to balance your application.

In This Issue

• Open Title I, Part A Projects and Associated Deadlines
• Title I Next – Opt-in Period Three
• Preparing for the FY25 GMAP Application
• Principal’s Perspective: Title I Annual Meeting Requirement
• Coordinator’s Year at a Glance

Title1Next - Opt-In Period Three

The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) has contracted with Public Consulting Group (PCG) to provide Title1Next™, a Title I, Part A document management solution, at no cost to all Kentucky school districts. For districts who have not already done so, you may get started with Title1Next June 3-14, with a “go live” date of June 24. Training sessions will be available June 25-26.

Districts interested in opting in should have the Title I coordinator complete the Title1Next Information form. Please note that the form should only be completed once per district. Districts that have already opted in do not need to complete the form.

Benefits of Title1Next include:

- Increased operational efficiency. From streamlined data and documentation to built-in program management and communication tools, Title1Next encourages more efficient, collaborative and productive Title I operations within districts and schools.

- Improved compliance and accountability. The integrated monitoring and alert system within Title1Next helps ensure that Kentucky schools submit documentation for monitoring on time. This documentation is also stored in the cloud for multiple academic years, which is pivotal for meeting record retention and preparing for monitoring.

The Title 1 Next informational video also provides an exciting summary of the Title1Next program.

For more information, feel free to contact the following individuals:

- KDE contacts: Erin Sudduth or David Millanti

- PCG contact: Jennifer Jones

New Resources: Parent and Family Engagement Policy and Compact Templates

Templates for the district and school level parent and family engagement policies and the school-family compact are now available on the Title I, Part A Documents and Resources webpage.

Although districts and Title I schools are not required to use the templates created by KDE, the documents were designed to help ensure all information required under ESSA is included.

A frequently asked questions document was created to support districts and schools in using the templates.

An in-depth review of the new resources was provided in the April webinar.

Coordinator's Year at a Glance – Suggested Tasks for May – July 

- Meet with district financial staff to reconcile fiscal issues prior to the end-of-year closeout. This will help ensure the district will not exceed the 15% carryover limitation.

- Review time and effort documentation for staff paid partially with Title I funds to determine the actual percentage of time spent working on the Title I, Part A program. If the percentage of time does not align with the full-time equivalency listed in GMAP, the application should be updated. Similar adjustments must be made in MUNIS to ensure Title I funds paid for the accurate percentage of the employee’s salary.

- Determine roles and responsibilities of appropriate local education agency representatives to determine comparability requirements.

- Gather data on private school services and evaluate programs for the upcoming year.

- Review and update district parent and family engagement policy based on data (e.g., evaluations), as needed.

- Review and update school parent and family engagement policy and school-family compact based on data (e.g., evaluations), jointly with parents, as needed.

Monthly Title I Webinar

The May webinar and accompanying PowerPoint are available on the Title I, Part A Documents and Resources webpage. During the webinar, information centered around the written transportation agreement for children and youth in foster care developed by the district and the local child welfare agency.

The June webinar will be held at 10 a.m. ET June 27. A reminder email will be sent before the webinar.

We value your feedback and would like to learn more about what is helpful and what you would like to see more of in the monthly webinars. Anonymous feedback and topic suggestions may be submitted through the optional Title I Monthly Webinar Feedback Survey. The feedback will be used to help ensure the monthly webinars meet your needs.

CONTACTS

Title I District Consultant List