During Tuesday evening’s June/July meeting of the Ashe County Board Education, board member A.B. Weaver asked Ashe County Middle School Principal Bobby Ashley a question that ignited a conversation between fellow board members.

“Why are the middle school and high school not under Title 1 funding when the elementary schools are?” Weaver asked.

Weaver explained that the county’s lone high school and middle school should be designated under Title 1 funding considering that the same students who pass through the elementary schools go on to attend ACMS and ACHS.

Ashley replied that he had been asked that very question on multiple occasions during his trip to Washington, D.C. when ACMS was honored as a National School to Watch during a conference held by the National Forum to Accelerate Middle-Grades Reform.

“That was thoroughly stressed in every session,” Ashley said. “Every person I interacted with at the conference asked me that.”

According to the U.S. Department of Education, Title 1 funding is a program that provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers or high percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards.

Title 1 funding is the cornerstone of the No Child Left Behind Act, the State Board of Education’s Website stated, one half of all North Carolina schools and all school districts receive this type of funding. Schools enrolling at least 40 percent of students from poor families are eligible for Title 1 funding for school wide programs that affect all students enrolled in the school, the state board said.

There are other factors that are examined when considering whether or not to designate a school for Title 1 status. Academic Yearly Progress reports, teacher and paraprofessional requirements, annual state report cards, professional involvement, and parent involvement are some of the factors that are examined within a school for Title 1 consideration, the SBOE stated.

Reeves and School Finance Officer Phyllis Yates explained that one prerequisite to be examined in order for a school to be considered for Title 1 funding is that 50 percent of the student population must receive free or reduced school lunches. The drop off in students who apply for the reduced meals in higher grades could be related to social factors rather than economical ones, Reeves explained.

“As children get older, it becomes harder for them to fill out the applications because of the stigma associated with filling out the forms,” Reeves said.

The superintendent continued by explaining that in some cases older students do not want to face the ridicule from their classmates in filling out the applications for free or reduced lunches, so in some cases they do not. This in turn may or may not play a role as to why higher grade facilities do not receive Title 1 funding.

Currently, the middle school and high school receive Disadvantage Student Supplement Fund (DSSF) and At-Risk funding to offset the Title 1 funding they do not receive. The elementary schools do no receive this funding. If the high school and middle school do receive Title 1 funding, the elementary schools would then be entitled to the DSSF and At-Risk funding as well as the Title 1 funds, Yates explained.

In essence, the whole process of fund allocation is a balancing act, Yates explained.

Yates continued by explaining that schools that receive Title 1 funding, such as the three county elementary schools, are subject to specific sanctions. The high school and middle school would also be subjected to state sanctions if they do accept the funding.

The county school system receives a designated amount of Title 1 funding that is to be distributed to the three elementary schools. If the other two county schools are granted Title 1 designation, the amount of funding the elementary schools traditionally receive would be less since it will be divided among five schools instead of three, Yates said.

Yates said that the administration will now begin to compile numbers to show to the public how the Title 1 funding would be distributed to the schools if funding was made available to all schools in the county school system. The report would also include the figures the high school and the middle school receive through DSSF and At-Risk funding.

A discussion on the inclusion of Title 1 funding on a countywide scale will be discussed at a future board meeting.