Kendrick Meek: “there are some good things in this bill, but it has some very serious flaws, particularly the failure to fund school…”

“there are some good things in this bill, but it has some very serious flaws, particularly the failure to fund school modernization and the tremendously damaging changes proposed in the permissible uses of funds under the title I program. The distinctive characteristic of Federal participation in elementary and secondary education has always been that Federal funding is targeted to reach the needs of students who come from low-income families. I firmly believe that we must continue this targeting. Unfortunately, by diluting the targeting of title I funds, H.R. 1 fails our students from low-income families and continues the movement toward abandoning our commitment to them. The title I program and the law were designed to reach those American children who come from low-income families. The formula for title I is driven by individual poverty; the number of children who qualify for free lunches determines the amount of money that goes to a school district. Currently, under title I, local education agencies target funds to schools with the highest percentage of children from low-income families. Unless a participating school is operating a ``schoolwide'' program, the school must target Title I services to children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet State academic standards. When the program was created in 1965, the eligibility threshold for using title I funds to operate ``schoolwide'' programs was 75 percent. Let me repeat that again.…”