[EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is a letter sent from the Fayette County School System on behalf of Superintendent Joseph Barrow.]
There are a total of nine Title I schools in the Fayette County School District and 12 eligible schools for Title I designation. The U.S. Department of Education and the Georgia Department of Education award Title I allocations to states and districts based on a statistical model that includes information from the Census Community Survey and the last decennial census, administrative records taken from federal income tax returns and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, data on Supplemental Security Income recipients and economic data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. The district allocates Title I Funds to schools based on the free and reduced ranking.
Not having a Title I designation does not mean a school does not have students who qualify for Free or Reduced price meals. There are a variety of classifications for Title I designation; e.g., school wide designation, targeted designation, etc. Just because a school is designated as Title I does not mean it cannot achieve with distinction.
For example, In 2014, Fayette County Schools were designated as the highest performing Title I schools in Georgia. An individual school example would be based on Fayetteville Elementary School’s 2015 CCRPI data (most recent data) that places it above several of our non-Title I schools in the district.
When the data is examined, there is a more than 15-point spread in our Title I schools, and a 12-point spread in our non-Title I schools with Title I schools scoring above some non-Title schools.
The Title I federal program has been in place since the passage of the Elementary Secondary Education Act of 1965. The primary mission for these federal funds is to supplement, not supplant, local funds based on inequity of income for the parents who have children enrolled in school.
Schools may qualify for federal funds if the school is above the district’s free and reduced average of 26 percent. The district receives funding based on the district’s entire population, not individual schools. The district allocates program funds based on individual percentages.
The financial analysis Ms. Brewer references in her letter to the editor seems to look at the aggregate data of all households in Fayetteville, not just the families who have children in Fayette County Schools. Through the Fayette Visioning Project data, it has been well-documented that we live in an affluent community; however, many of the households that have school-age children do not enjoy a commensurate income level as many of the county’s more prosperous households.
Parents have the responsibility for determining what is best for their individual child(ren), so we will not speculate on the reasons for those educational decisions; however, we can review this data by current attendance zones.
Ironically, the contention by Ms. Brewer that parents want their children to attend Peachtree City or non-title schools is not supported by the data. Instead, our data suggests we have more students in non-title schools who choose a different educational option.
With the rezoning of all elementary and middle schools in the Fayette County system that took place in 2013, the Board of Education has afforded parents school choice where possible. The school system also complies with HB 251, which also allows for within school system choice based on availability. Both of these choice issues have impacted all schools. The number of requests for this type choice has steadily declined over the last three years because students and parents alike have found the zoned schools to be meeting the needs of their students.
Our district does have a verification process for evaluating free and reduced meal priced applications. We verify based on a percentage of non-response rate from the prior year that is based on a random selection pulled from our computer software system.
The Eligibility Manual for School Meals provided by USDA as a guide for processing meal applications states, “schools must not verify more than or less than the standard sample size, and must not verify all 100 percent of the applications.”
The Fayette County School System does comply with federal and state laws/guidelines; not to do so would be unlawful, and therefore problematic for the school district. Our superintendent, Dr. Barrow, has been very clear that no child should “go hungry” while the application/verification process is being completed, and we must comply with the current requirements. USDA requires meal applications to be processed within 10 days of receipt. Parents are required to pay until the application is processed.
There are several smaller systems that process applications manually, and thus may have a larger error rate with application processing. However, we use advanced computer software to process applications to minimize errors. We also complete a manual secondary review of all applications processed in the software to verify accuracy, which is not required by USDA.
Lastly, our Free and Reduced Specialist, as well as other staff members, attend the annual verification training offered by the Georgia Department of Education to keep abreast of any changes as it relates to the verification process.
USDA does allow school systems to verify an application for cause. If someone suspects fraud, they may make a formal complaint to the School Nutrition Department at any time (770-460-3990 Ext. 147). If this happens, then the School Nutrition Department may verify the application. Our district uses the prototype application provided by USDA. The chart provided on the application is used as an example and doesn’t guarantee meal eligibility benefits.
We do agree that childhood poverty is a problem in the world at large and Georgia has one of the highest childhood poverty rates in the country. Fayette County is not immune to that status; however, to say that a child from poverty cannot learn and be successful is grossly inaccurate. The Fayette County School system and Board of Education are audited by both state and external auditors on an annual basis and consistently receives very high ratings on our fiduciary responsibilities. To infer that the school district is “trying to get more Title I money” is patently false.
We do concur the issue of “race” should not be a factor, but Ms. Brewer’s correspondence does seem to make a distinction about “class.” As a public school system, we are compelled by law to accept and educate all Fayette County students regardless of race, color, creed, religion, or economic standing. Not to do so would be discriminatory and violate federal statutes.
Requiring parents to submit financial documents (W2’s or tax returns) during the initial approval process would delay benefits to those families in need. Moreover, it is against Federal standards for verification. If randomly selected during the annual verification process, we ask parents to provide copies of their most recent check stubs, SNAP or TANF eligibility letter for verification.
The Fayette County School System does have strong out of county residency procedures in place where school social workers and School Resource Officers work to verify residency to insure students who attend any Fayette County school is indeed a resident of the county. We do periodically receive contact from residents when there is suspicion of false residency status. A Fayette County resident can call our Student Services Department, at 770-460-3990, to report this activity.
The concerns Council member Brewer has expressed are at times inaccurate or lacking clarity. Nevertheless, there are some real concerns for Fayetteville and Fayette County at large.
In her attempt to find a solution to these concerns, she seems to infer the school district is at fault rather than being one of the positive solutions that enhances the quality of Fayetteville and the county at large.
The Fayette County School District is a reflection of the community it serves. As opposed to placing the burden at the feet of the school system, our community at large should pull together and look at how the leadership can improve community development as a whole.
If there is a better quality of life offered to citizens, both young and old, the community can become prosperous and the school district will thrive. If the community only focuses on how to maintain the status quo of the past, we most likely will not succeed in becoming a “World Class Community,” and ultimately lose the quality community we all hold so dear.
Dr. Joseph Barrow, superintendent
Fayette County School System
Fayetteville, Ga.
