Blog Post
Using Federal Funds for CORE Services
The number of grants available to schools through federal funding is at an all-time high. CORE products and services can be funded through the federal grant programs listed below. We’re committed to helping you take advantage of the resources available. For assistance completing a grant application, please contact us.
Schoolwide Title I programs
Schoolwide Title I programs LEAs can consolidate and use Title I and other federal, state and local funds for schoolwide Title I programs in schools serving a school attendance area where not less than 40 percent of the children are from low-income families, or where 40 percent of the children enrolled are from such families. Note: funds can be used for preschool programs or dual/concurrent enrollment programs.
Title II
Title II of the Every Student Succeeds Act funds for professional development to include teachers of every subject as well as all other school staff, from principals to librarians to paraprofessionals. It also recognizes that educators learn best when they can collaborate and immediately apply what they learn by explicitly requiring ongoing job-embedded activities that improve instruction.
Title II dollars continue to be allocated to states by formula. Under ESSA, there will be a shift away from an allocation formula that rewards communities with higher populations to a formula that rewards communities with higher percentages of families living in poverty. After a four-year phase-in period, 80 percent of funds will be allocated to higher-poverty districts and 20 percent will be allocated to those with larger populations.
School Improvement Grants School Improvement Grants
School Improvement Grants in their current form are ended. Instead, to carry out statewide system of technical assistance and support for local educational agencies, each state shall reserve either seven percent of Title I Part A or the amount the state had reserved for school improvement in 2016 and the amount it received, whichever is greater. Not less than 95 percent of the amount would go in grants to LEAs on formula or competitive basis for schools implementing comprehensive support and improvement activities or targeted support and improvement activities or the SEA may directly provide those activities. These would be four year grants.
LEARN ACT (under ESSA)
Literacy Education for All, Results for the Nation provides targeted funds to support local education agencies in carrying out initiatives aimed at improving student achievement in reading and writing from birth through grade twelve. This is an important shift that recognizes the continuing needs of students in attaining literacy skills after third grade – skills that are necessary to ensure that students graduate from high school college and career ready.
Key provisions:
- To support LEAs’ delivery of comprehensive and high-quality literacy instruction, States can obtain federal support, through a competitive grant process, to develop and implement state-led comprehensive literacy plans.
- To ensure the comprehensive nature of this program, funding must be allocated equitably for state and local programs and activities with not less than 15% for children from birth through kindergarten entry, 40% for kindergarten through grade 5 students, and 40% for grades 6 through 12 students.
- Requires comprehensive literacy plans be developed/revised in conjunction with state literacy teams. Birth through kindergarten entry plans must be developed in conjunction with appropriate state agencies responsible for administering early childhood education and childhood care programs.
- Allowable uses of funding include: development of comprehensive literacy plans; professional development for educators, paraprofessionals, SISPs, specialists, school librarians, and school leaders; coordination with early childhood educators; collaborative literacy instruction planning time for educators; assessment of program quality; and, engagement of stakeholders in supporting literacy experiences and practices.
MSP: Math Science Partnership Program
The Mathematics and Science Partnership (MSP) program is intended to increase the academic achievement of students in mathematics and science by enhancing the content knowledge and teaching skills of classroom teachers. Partnerships between high-need school districts and the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) faculty in institutions of higher education are at the core of these improvement efforts. Other partners may include state education agencies, public charter schools or other public schools, businesses, and nonprofit or for-profit organizations concerned with mathematics and science education.