School Board to Congressional Delegation: Protect Funding for Vulnerable Students
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — Today, the Fairfax County School Board sent a letter to Fairfax County’s delegation to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, calling on them to protect Title I funding, which provides vital support to some of the school division’s most vulnerable students. Potential cuts as deep as 80 percent have been discussed by some as a part of the House’s ongoing Appropriations conversations.
Excerpts from the letter signed by School Board Chair Karl Frisch (Providence District) and the Board’s Federal Legislative Liaison Seema Dixit (Sully District) on behalf of their colleagues:
“Proposed cuts to Title I funding would have a devastating impact on FCPS’s ability to serve its most vulnerable students. As an example, if one of our average sized Title I schools were to lose funding support it would put math resource support, reading resource support, an additional school counselor, and a position to support enrichment in jeopardy.”
“It would also reduce professional learning opportunities for teachers, negatively impacting the ability of teachers to deliver instruction that meets the diverse needs of their students. In addition, the school would lose the ability to fund family engagement events and after-school programs.”
Current funding has “failed to keep pace with rising inflationary costs and with continued growth in our free and reduced meals eligible student population, putting school divisions further and further behind.”
Full Text of Letter Sent to Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, and Reps. Don Beyer, Gerry Connolly, and Jennifer Wexton (PDF AVAILABLE):
Dear [Representative/Senator]:
We are writing to express our deep concern about the impacts on Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) of potential cuts to Title I funding that have been discussed as a part of the House’s ongoing conversations regarding the FY24 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriations bill. Some reports indicate that the proposed cuts could be as deep as 80% of current Title I program funding.
Title I funding in FCPS ($35.8M in FY24) provides vital support to some of our most vulnerable students, helping them to close achievement gaps and reach their full potential. FCPS currently has 44 Title I schoolwide assistance model schools, serving over 22,000 students from low-income families. Title I funds are used to provide a wide range of essential services, including:
· Additional staffing: Almost 80% of FCPS’s Title I funds ($27.7M) specifically support 267 staff positions, including early childhood teachers, resource teachers, counselors, social workers, intervention teachers, Homeless Liaisons, and Instructional Coaches. These positions provide critical support to students who are struggling in math, language arts, and other subjects.
· Intervention Supports: Title I funding supports 32 intervention teachers and 60 literacy and math resource teachers across the Title I schools, as well as evidence based reading and math intervention programs and resources. Intervention teachers and resource teachers provide targeted support to individual and small groups of students focused on specific reading and math intervention needs. These interventions are in addition to the student’s core instruction and are an essential component in closing achievement gaps.
· Professional learning opportunities for Title I teachers: Title I funding provides on-going, job-embedded professional learning through instructional coaching as well as additional learning opportunities. Title I funding has allowed for the training of 500 teachers across Title I schools in Orton Gillingham, which is designed to aid students in in mastering language skills; as well as for the training of 521 teachers in Title I schools in AVMR (Add+ Vantage Math Recovery), which allows teachers to deliver math intervention focused on specific skills.
· After-school programs: Title I funds supplement After School Programs at all Title I schools; including additional intervention, enrichment activities, and clubs including Math Olympiad and Science Olympiad. These programs provide a safe and supportive environment for students and can help to improve academic outcomes.
· Family engagement: Every Title I school develops a family school compact that specifies the family engagement commitments for the year. All schools use their funding to support curriculum nights, parent coffees, family field trips, and classes for parents. These events help to build strong partnerships between schools and families, and they can have a positive impact on student achievement.
Proposed cuts to Title I funding would have a devastating impact on FCPS’s ability to serve its most vulnerable students. As an example, if one of our average sized Title I schools were to lose funding support it would put math resource support, reading resource support, an additional school counselor, and a position to support enrichment in jeopardy. Losing these positions would negatively impact the school’s ability to meet student academic and wellness needs by reducing the access students have to academic and wellness interventions, supports, and enrichments. It would also reduce professional learning opportunities for teachers, negatively impacting the ability of teachers to deliver instruction that meets the diverse needs of their students. In addition, the school would lose the ability to fund family engagement events and after-school programs. And while FCPS has received modest increases in Title I funding in recent years, such increases have failed to keep pace with rising inflationary costs and with continued growth in our free and reduced meals eligible student population, putting school divisions further and further behind.
Some of the advocacy for such reductions is based on the premise that pandemic relief funds could be substituted for ongoing Title I resources. The non-recurring nature of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER) funds make them an inappropriate substitute for the annual, ongoing support provided under the Title I program. In FCPS only 12% of our total ESSER allocation remains. Unspent funds have already been allocated to School Board and Virginia Department of Education approved projects, and they must be spent by September 30, 2024. School divisions are already struggling to address the “funding cliff’ created by the September expiration of ESSER funds — losing ongoing Title I funds at the same time would have a devastating compounding impact on our students.
One of our Board’s priority federal legislative positions is for increased Title I funding, so we strongly urge you to reject these calls for reductions. These proposed cuts would have a profound negative impact on our most vulnerable students, and they would jeopardize our efforts to close achievement gaps and ensure that all students have access to a high-quality education.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Karl Frisch
Chair
Fairfax County School Board
Providence District Member
Seema Dixit
Federal Legislative Liaison
Fairfax County School Board
Sully District Member
