Donald M. Payne: “the bill before us today boasts better flexibility while allocating Federal funds in school districts, but I have to say…”

“the bill before us today boasts better flexibility while allocating Federal funds in school districts, but I have to say a number of times, as I have done in the past in reference to Ed-Flex, if we want to give States the flexibility they desire, we need to get in return some type of assurance that funds will still go to low income Title I children as Title I was created to do. Title I funds are supposed to go to children in disadvantaged school districts or children who are disadvantaged. This bill will give school districts and States the right to take Title I funds and spread them among other students in the school that are not necessarily disadvantaged. This dilutes the entire purpose of Title I, and it will leave students who are poor and indeed in need of special attention without the help they need. The final version of the bill will ensure schools with poverty levels of above 75 percent are served Title 1 funds first, and it retains language from the House bill that allows a larger number of schools to receive Title I funds only if the number of children living in poverty is at most 10 percent below the districtwide poverty level. This seems the least we can do to protect the children who are most in need of Title I funds.”