Changes to Title I, Part A - Letters (CA Dept of Education)

Letter Head: Jack O'Connell, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, California Department of Education

November 13, 2009

Dear County and District Superintendents, Direct-funded Charter School Administrators, and State and Federal Categorical Programs Directors:

CHANGES TO TITLE I, PART A FEDERAL REGULATIONS IMPACTING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PUBLIC SCHOOL CHOICE AND SUPPLEMENTAL EDUCATIONAL SERVICES

This letter reminds local educational agencies (LEAs) of regulations for Title I from the U.S. Department of Education (ED) established in October 2008 (34 Code of Federal Regulations [CFR] sections 200.44–48), Non-Regulatory Guidance (NRG) on public school choice and supplemental educational services (SES) published January 14, 2009, and informs LEAs of our intent to apply for waivers of certain provisions. You can find the Title I, Part A CFR, on the ED Elementary and Secondary Education (ESEA) Final Regulations for Title I Web page at http://www.ed.gov/policy/elsec/reg/title1/fedregister.html . You can find information about public school choice on the ED ESEA School Choices for Parents Web page at http://www.ed.gov/parents/schools/choice/definitions.html . You can find information about SES on the ED ESEA Guidance for SES Web page at http://www.ed.gov/nclb/choice/help/ses/guidance.html .

The regulations address the following topics:

Parent notification for public school choice and SES
LEA Web posting of public school choice and SES information
Funding for public school choice and SES
State responsibilities and future actions
Implementation timeline summary

The following resources provide more detailed guidance:

Online training for the implementation of the Title I regulations can be accessed on the California Comprehensive Center at WestEd (CA CC) California’s SES Web page at http://www.cacompcenter.org/ses_events/ . Please see the May13, 2009, Webinar that was sponsored by the California Department of Education (CDE) and the CA CC.
CDE letters to the field regarding public school choice and SES (October and December 2007) are available on the CDE Program Improvement Correspondence Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ti/correspondence.asp.

Background on Public School Choice and SES

If there are Program Improvement (PI) schools in an LEA, the ESEA requires the LEA to pay for public school choice-related transportation and for SES with a required obligation of 20 percent of the LEA’s Title I, Part A allocation regardless of the number of PI schools in the LEA. The public school choice provision requires that parents of all students enrolled in schools in PI Years 1 through 5 be offered the opportunity to transfer their child(ren) to a non-PI school within the LEA with paid transportation (ESEA Section 1116[b][1][E]).

The SES provision requires LEAs to offer SES, or tutoring, by State Board of Education (SBE)-approved providers at no cost to parents of eligible students of low-income families from schools in PI Years 2 through 5. This tutoring must be provided beyond the regular school day, and its academic assistance must be high quality, research-based, consistent with the content and instruction used by the LEA, aligned with the State’s academic content standards, and specifically designed to increase student academic achievement (ESEA Section 1116[e][12][C]). In addition, LEAs have the option to provide SES to students in schools in PI Year 1.

Parental Notification for Public School Choice and SES, Title I Regulations Section 200.37(b)(4)(iv) and (b)(5)

LEAs must ensure that parents have clearly distinguishable, comprehensive, easy-to–understand information about public school choice and SES. The key new requirements and timelines are summarized in Enclosure 1. You can find sample parent notification templates on the CDE Parental Notification Templates Web page at http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ti/parnotpi.asp.

The new regulations (Section 200.44) expect “timely notification” about public school choice to be provided sufficiently in advance of, but no later than 14-calendar days before, the first day of the school year. Note: For schools that will become PI in 2009–10, required assessment data will not be available from the CDE to meet the 14-calendar day requirement. The CDE is seeking a one-year state waiver from the ED for newly identified schools in PI.

LEA Web Posting of Public School Choice and SES Information, Title I Regulations Section 200.39(c)

LEAs are to post to their LEA Web site information about the number of students eligible for public school choice transfer options and SES as well as the number of students who participated. This information is to be maintained annually, starting with the 2007–08 school year. Enclosure 2 provides a template for the minimum information required in the new regulations.

Funding for Public School Choice and SES: Title I Regulations Section 200.48

Beginning with the 2009–10 school year, Title I Regulations Section 200.48 state that a LEA must:

Expend the full 20 percent obligation on public school choice and SES, including allowable charges for parent outreach and assistance related to SES and public school choice (1 percent of the 20 percent), or
Assign unexpended funds for the same purpose in the subsequent year in addition to the new 20 percent obligation for the subsequent year, or
Meet new criteria specified in the new Title I regulations in order to reallocate the unexpended amount for other Title I, Part A allowable activities.

LEAs may count towards the 20 percent obligation up to 1 percent for costs of parent outreach and assistance related to public school choice and SES or an amount equal to 0.2 percent of the total LEA allocation for Title I Part A, as defined in Section 200.78(a).Enclosures 3 and 4 provide more details and a flowchart describing the new criteria to be met for reallocation of unexpended funds from the required 20 percent set-aside.

State Responsibilities and Future Actions by the CDE

On behalf of all LEAs, the CDE has applied to the ED for a one-time waiver to exclude any American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds from the current obligations for the 20 percent set aside required by Title I Part A Regulations Section 200.78(a) for the 2009–10 school year. Further, the CDE has also applied for a waiver from the 14-day required notice to parents for LEAs about to enter PI or likely to exit PI in September 2009. For a full explanation of Title I Part A recovery funds for grants to LEAs for the 2009–10 school year, please refer to the ED ESEA Programs Web page at http://www.ed.gov/policy/gen/leg/recovery/programs.html .

Title I Regulations sections 200.47(a), (b), and (c) require the state educational agency to provide additional monitoring of LEAs and providers. Please see Enclosure 5.

If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact Fred Balcom, Director, District and School Improvement Division, by phone at 916-319-0925 or by e-mail at fbalcom@cde.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

JACK O’CONNELL

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Enclosures (PDF; 157KB; 10pp.)

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