ACCEPTABLE USES OF TITLE I FUNDS FOR ENGLISH LEARNERS (META CONSENT DECREE)

  • Please use this site as a guide for spending the English Learner Equity Amount of Title I funds at your school in a manner that meets compliance requirements. This site also includes samples of supplemental instructional materials that will help English Learner students meet challenging grade-appropriate state standards, and address their language development needs. 

    General Overview 

    The following should be considered when determining whether a potential expenditure meets the Title I EL equity requirements in the META consent decree. 
     
    The META Consent Decree requires a determination of the services most needed by your ELs to be conducted prior to spending Title I funds for English Learners at your school. The Consent Decree requires that these services must be supplemental and tailored to solely meet the specific needs of EL students. OEL, as part of its monitoring duties under the META Consent Decree, is obliged to ensure compliance with these legal requirements. A school’s intention to comply must be clearly ascertainable from the school’s budget. OEL is obligated to work with schools to make appropriate revisions to any budget that does not reflect compliance with Title I and META Consent Decree requirements, including prohibiting the use of Title I dollars to supplant core funding or ensuring that EL instructors, including HILT teachers, are properly funded and coded. 
    • Supplement Not Supplant: Although the Supplement Not Supplant rule for Title I funds has changed for FY19, where there is greater flexibility in how you use your funds, the rule for your Title I EL portion remains the same. Title I funding for ELs must be used to supplement, and not supplant, local, state or federal resources available or required under state or federal law to meet the educational needs of ELs. In other words, funds may not be used to provide services that are otherwise required by law, but may be used to supplement such services (the one exception to this rule is that expenses associated with the HILT for SLIFE program may be funded with these monies). Also, Title I for ELs funds cannot be used to purchase the same item for ELs as has been purchased for non-ELs with other state/federal/local funds.
    • Services Tailored to Meet the Specific Needs of ELs: Services provided under Title I need to be tailored to meet the specific linguistic, cultural, socio-emotional, and academic needs of ELs. Furthermore, for staffing positions to be considered counting toward the EL equity amount, the staff must provide supplemental services and concentrate on providing EL services to students with English language development (ELD) levels 1 and 2, as they are the most vulnerable group of students requiring supplemental services. 
    • Services Solely Benefiting ELs: Title I expenditures for ELs are also required to solely benefit ELs. This means, for instance, positions that serve both ELs and non-ELs do not meet the unique needs of ELs and therefore are not considered toward the equity amount. 
    • EL Equity Requirement: Although school leaders have wide discretion in determining the school budget and use of Title I funds, each school’s Title I resources must be allocated in such a way that EL students benefit equitably. The standard for compliance in each school is based on the population of EL students in that school. Simply stated, the percentage of Title I funds spent for services to ELs must correspond with the percentage of ELs in the school population. For example, if a school receives $100,000 in Title I funding with a school population consisting of 25% ELs, then $25,000 must be spent to benefit ELs. In this example, $25,000 is the “EL equity amount” that must be spent on supplemental services directly and solely benefiting ELs. This allocation is determined centrally as part of the annual Budget Collab/Probable Org process.
    • Title I for ELs Monitoring: Prior to expending any funds, each school must conduct a needs assessment to determine the supports the EL students at the school most. This needs assessment should drive how the funds are used to supplement instruction for ELs. This needs assessment and alignment of funds is collected from principals annually in the Title I for ELs Budget Plan. OEL provides feedback to school leaders to ensure that planned spending will meet the META Consent Decree requirements. Additionally as part of its monitoring duties, OEL collects a Title I for ELs Budget Monitoring Checklist at the end of the school yearthat identifies how the funds were actually spent, and how the expenditures meet the requirements of the META consent decree. A school’s intention to comply must be clearly ascertainable from the school’s budget. OEL is obligated to work with schools to make appropriate revisions to any budget that does not reflect compliance with Title I and META Consent Decree requirements, including prohibiting the use of Title I dollars to supplant core funding or ensuring that EL instructors, including HILT teachers, are properly funded and coded. This Checklist is submitted annually to META attorneys for their review.
     
    *Supplemental requirements ensure services provided with Federal funds are in addition to and do not replace or supplant services that students would otherwise receive in the absence of these funds. (ESEA Sec1120A)

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