Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) interim Superintendent Monique Felder reached out via email to families of students at Silver Spring’s Oak View Elementary School this week to assure them the district is “actively looking for alternative ways to preserve” some of the school’s programs and supports after the loss of Title I status and funding.
Title I is a federal aid program under the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015 that provides grants to schools with high economic needs and student poverty rates, according to the MCPS website.
In February, four elementary schools in the district learned that their schools moved down in poverty rankings in the district resulting in a loss of Title I status. According to MCPS officials, rankings are not fixed and are subject to change each year. Next school year, six schools will be added to the Title I group.
Felder’s letter came after Oak View community members shared concerns and worries about the loss of funding with school officials at board meetings and in a letter-writing campaign.
The other schools that lost funding include Brookhaven Elementary School in Rockville and Viers Mill and Strathmore elementary schools in Silver Spring. Families and school staff from those schools have also been vocal at board meetings and on social media about the impact of losing the federal aid.
According to data provided by MCPS, in the current school year Oak View Elementary received $397,800 in Title I funds, Brookhaven was allotted $356,200, Viers Mill received $517,400 and Strathmore got $462,800.
It is unclear if the other schools received similar correspondence from Felder. In an email, Cram said he was aware only of the letter Felder sent to the Oak View community.
“Even though the decision to identify Title I schools occurred before my arrival, I’ve taken the time to understand your worries and talk about them with staff,” Felder wrote to Oak View. Felder was appointed to be interim superintendent of the district in early February after former superintendent Monifa McKnight stepped down in the aftermath of a scandal that revealed the district’s mishandling of sexual harassment and bullying complaints against a middle school principal.
For families at Oak View, which serves third through fifth grades, the loss of Title I funding will result in a loss of summer school programs, paraeducators and other programs supported by the funding. Losing summer school means families must look for alternative child care or learning options for their children this upcoming summer.
In addition, Oak View’s feeder school, New Hampshire Estates Elementary School, which serves kindergarten through second grades, is a Title I school, meaning students and their families will not receive the same support after moving from second to third grade.
In the email, Felder wrote that school officials will keep in touch with Oak View Principal Jeff Cline to “ensure he is aware of how other grant funds may be able to retain some existing supports.”
“We know that Title I funding has been crucial for supporting different programs and initiatives at Oak View. Like you, MCPS is committed to providing a high-quality education to the school’s students,” she wrote.
At MCPS, whether a school received Title 1 status was typically determined by the number of students receiving free and reduced-price meals (FARMS). Changes in status for the coming school year came into effect after MCPS began participating in a federal free meals program during the current school year. The Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) program provides free breakfast and lunch for all students in schools and districts in low-income areas.
According to Felder, 57 schools are participating in the program this year, with the majority being elementary schools including Oak View.
“The goal of using direct certification through CEP was to make sure more students receive free meals every day, which is important for their learning and health. However, this change also affected how schools are ranked for Title I funding,” Felder wrote to the Oak View school community.
The district is allocated a certain amount of Title I funding annually from the federal government. For the current school year, MCPS received more than $51 million in federal Title I aid to serve 45 schools, according to its fiscal year 2024 operating budget.
According to MCPS, Title I schools receive funding that supports additional instructional specialists, teachers and paraeducators, summer school, an extended day program and family engagement programs, supplemental funds for instructional and school materials, professional development and other school initiatives.
After hearing about losing status, worried families and caregivers from the joint PTA serving New Hampshire Estates and Oak View elementary schools began a letter-writing campaign asking MCPS to:
- Fund summer school for the students who need it this upcoming summer;
- Provide replacement funding that will enable Oak View Elementary to maintain current staffing levels in the 2024-2025 school year; and
- Revise its Title I formula so it is inclusive of all low-income students regardless of whether they receive federal benefits.
According to Annie Tulkin, a parent of a second-grade student at New Hampshire Estates who will attend Oak View next year, families have yet to be updated by school officials on the status of summer school. Tulkin added that Felder’s letter is the only correspondence the Oak View-New Hampshire Estates community has received.
Tulkin said that she and other families in the school community were grateful to receive a letter from Felder but feel that the situation is still “unresolved.”
“I think it’s great that Dr. Felder wrote a letter to the community but we’ve also had to go to great lengths to be seen, and that is problematic,” she said, noting the letter did not contain much detail into alternative funding streams or solutions.
For now, Tulkin said Oak View and New Hampshire Estates parents are continuing to coordinate to figure out next steps with less than three months until the summer break.
