Keep the promise to triple Title I funding

America’s K-12 schools are currently receiving unprecedented funding to help combat the pandemic’s effects on students. While this funding is welcome, it’s not permanent. Delivering lasting improvements for students from low-income communities will require a sustained, long-term investment that supports permanent solutions rather than temporary fixes. Following through on President Biden’s commitment to triple funding for Title I is the answer.

It is no secret that it costs more to educate students from historically low-income communities than it does to educate those from more affluent communities. There are structural barriers to be overcome, including lower property taxes, food insecurity and the lack of broadband access. Compounding that, students from low-income communities are less likely than wealthier peers to have access to enrichment activities, academic support and extra-curricular activities. Yet, paradoxically, we spend less on the very students who need more.

The pandemic laid bare the wide discrepancy in resources and opportunities available to students in low-income communities. For example, the Center on Reinventing Public Education found that pandemic “impacts are consistently greater” for students from lower-income households and for Black and Hispanic students. 

The federal government and states deserve credit for stepping up with emergency funding in response to the current crisis. In addition to the emergency funding from packages like the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the California state legislature passed measures that include an additional one-time allocation of $50 million for SEL programs across the state.

As meaningful as this funding is, it does not ultimately meet the ongoing needs of students nationwide. California students will continue to need SEL support once the $50 million runs dry, and one-time funds make it difficult to introduce and sustain long-term support systems to ensure they have maximum impact.

We need sustainable, effective inputs that lead to measurable improvements in student achievement. This is where Title I funding comes in. In contrast to ARP and similar short-term funds, Title I is an annual and stable funding stream for schools serving low-income students. It targets federal funding to schools on the basis of poverty in order to serve students at risk of not meeting state standards. More than half — 60 percent — of the nation’s public schools receive this funding, which can be used for a variety of needs from classroom teachers focused on literacy and numeracy development to SEL resources. And the funding won’t dry up when the current crisis fades.

In the most recent fiscal year, Title I spending was approximately $15 billion of a nearly $70 billion federal Department of Education budget. In the recent Senate and House appropriations bills, President Biden’s campaign promise of tripling Title I funding began to materialize. The bills call for a significant increase in Title I funding — between $16 billion and $20 billion. Although this is closer to doubling Title I funding than tripling, it would still be the largest increase in funding the program has ever received to help disadvantaged students, schools and communities — and one that must become reality.

To make sure this funding increase has maximum impact, policymakers should ensure equitable funding for all high-poverty public schools entitled to Title I funding, including charter schools. Charter schools overwhelmingly serve students from low-income families. They need this extra funding to provide the necessary and best academic, social and emotional development supports for students.

This year, Congress should prioritize getting their appropriations bills, including the increase in Title I, across the finish line. Public schools serving students from low-income backgrounds need a permanent funding increase they can count on. Then we need Congress, governors, state educational agencies and local educational agencies to do the right thing and ensure every public school, including public charter schools, entitled to Title I funding receives its fair share.

Chad Soleo is the chief executive officer for Green Dot Public Schools National, a network of 25 Title I charter middle and high schools purposefully located in communities that have been historically underserved in California, Tennessee and Texas.

Nina Rees is the president and CEO of the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools, the leading national nonprofit organization committed to advancing the public charter school movement.