The federal government is poised to cut $4.4 million in funds for poor Kansas children even as the number of such children is skyrocketing.

The decrease in Title I funds, designed to provide extra reading and math instruction to schools in poor areas, reflects new population data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Kansas is one of 11 states that will see decreases next school year, according to preliminary figures.

But educators in the state say there is still great demand for Title I services, especially as the federal government strengthens its requirements on student test results.

“It’s a major hit in that we’re trying to juxtapose that against the increasing accountability with No Child Left Behind legislation,” said Janice Nicklaus, executive director of educational programming and instruction for Lawrence public schools. “This tends to water down the services and tends to reduce the capacity we have to serve these children.”

Overall, Kansas’ share of the funds will decrease 5 percent, from $87 million to $82.7 million. The Lawrence district’s cut is about 8.5 percent, from $1.79 million to $1.63 million.

Nationally, Title I spending hit a record $12.3 billion for the coming year, up more than $650 million in one year.

In estimates for next year’s Title I funds, the U.S. Department of Education used 2000 Census data to calculate allocations to states. The numbers apparently show other states have a greater demand for the money than Kansas, said Bill Hagerman, director of state and federal programs for the Kansas Department of Education.

“It’s a distribution issue — how do we sit in the distribution of poor students?” he said. “The unfortunate part of this is we’re using data that’s pre-9-11. There may be some changes that affect that distribution.”

In Kansas, 179,235 students, or 35 percent of total enrollment, qualified for the federal free- and reduced-lunch program this year, one measure of poverty. That’s up from 130,560, or 27 percent, 10 years ago.

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The Lawrence district has seen a similar increase. This year, 2,944 students, or 29 percent of enrollment, are on free and reduced lunches. That’s up from 2,136 students, or 27 percent, in the 1993-1994 school year.

Growing gap

“I think this is really a very serious thing the federal government is doing,” said Gary Brunk, executive director of Kansas Action for Children. “One of the problems we need to deal with in Kansas is that there is this growing gap between low-income kids and higher-income kids. Cutting Title I money will very easily have the consequences of making that achievement gap even greater. I think this is a tragedy.”

The Lawrence district uses Title I money to hire at least one math and one reading teacher at seven schools in low-income areas — New York, Kennedy, Pinckney, Woodlawn, Hillcrest and Broken Arrow elementary schools and Central Junior High School.

Students with low test scores are identified to work with the teachers.

Nicklaus said a cut in funds might mean some of those schools wouldn’t receive all Title I services, that teachers could be laid off or that some teachers would be required to serve more than one school.

Kansas lawmakers act

Several federal lawmakers are lobbying the U.S. Department of Education to change its allocation of Title I money before issuing final figures in early summer. Kansas Sens. Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts, Republicans, and Rep. Dennis Moore, a Democrat, are among those who have signed a letter written by Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., urging the department to reconsider.

They argue the data used by the department doesn’t accurately reflect current economic situations in districts affected by the cuts.

“Federal funding shortfalls combined with increased mandates are making the job of local school districts harder in a time when state budget is also facing deficits,” said Christie Appelhanz, a spokeswoman for Moore. “(Moore) is greatly concerned that such drastic funding shortfalls will leave schools and students unprepared to meet the requirements of this new law and lead many schools to be unnecessarily labeled ‘failing,’ thus undermining confidence in local schools.”

But Todd Jones, a budget official with the U.S. Department of Education, said he didn’t think reconsideration was likely.

“We have not heard from anyone who has provided a substantive explanation for why the numbers shouldn’t be adopted,” he said.

Chris Royer/Journal-World Graphic