INFORMATIONAL LETTER NO:  123

 

POLICY CODE:  DD

 

TO:                  Superintendents of Schools

 

FROM:            Susan A. Gendron, Commissioner

 

DATE:             May 13, 2004

 

RE:                   NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND (NCLB) Title VI Rural Update

 

The United States Education Department has provided the Maine Department of Education Title VI Rural Education office additional information since that provided at our regional meetings in April.  This letter includes the timelines for the Title VI Rural Small Schools Grant, the Title VI Rural Low-Income Grant and an update of district eligibility.   It includes tables listing the anticipated participation status of districts for planning purposes.   For some districts, there may be a change in participation eligibility due to the use of the 2000 census by the United States Education Department as the basis for determining local locale codes. Many districts have been assigned new codes as a result of the 2000 census.  A locale code definition sheet is attached at the end of this letter for your information.  The United States Education Department will make the final determination of eligibility.

1. Federal Timeline

There are basically 6 phases in the FY 2004 process (5 to set up the Rural Small Schools Grant and 1 to determine the Rural Low-Income Grant) and they can be described as follows:

·        Phase 1:  Email the NCES Spreadsheet to States. (April 20, 2004) Status - State received

·        Phase 2:  States submit, through email, the NCES Spreadsheets to the Department. (May 14, 2004) Status – The State of Maine is in the process of submitting this data.

·        Phase 3:  The Federal Department posts State Spreadsheets to the web to confirm local eligibility.  (On or before June 1, 2004) at http://www.ed.gov/programs/reapsrsa/index.html.  Districts will need to check this site for eligibility for the Rural Small Schools Grant in early June.

·        Phase 4:  Local Education Agencies (LEAs) apply for Rural Small Schools REAP grants. (June 2, 2004 - June 30, 2004)  As soon as State Spreadsheets are posted to web, LEAs can begin applying. This will be for Rural Small Schools identified in the spreadsheet and who not have been eligible the previous school year.  Rural Small School districts which were eligible for funding and used the federal website to download funding electronically during school year 2003-04 do not need to reapply.  This site will have the instructions for newly eligible Rural Small School Districts to complete the set-up process to be able to apply for the grant funding.  Note: This is last year’s website as the new instructions have not yet been posted nor the website updated by the United States Education Department. http://www.ed.gov/programs/reapsrsa/idinstructions03.doc

·        Phase 5:  The United States Education Department makes grant awards to LEAs and mails out grant award notifications. (August 15, 2004 - September 30, 2004) All Rural Small School districts can then access funding through the electronic E-grant system.

·        Phase 6: The Rural Low-Income Grant eligibility list is posted and the State of Maine sends applications to eligible districts for the Rural Low-Income grants (September, 2004 – October, 2004).  http://www.ed.gov/programs/reaprlisp/index.html

 

2.  Rural Small Schools Funding Periods

 

The dates listed below indicate the time frame from which Rural Small School Grant funds must be drawn down from the electronic grants system and be liquidated.

 

• School year 2002-03 funds have to be drawn down by September 30, 2004 and liquidated by December 30, 2004
• School year 2003-04 funds have to be drawn down by September 30, 2005 and liquidated by December 30, 2005
• School year 2004-05 funds have to be drawn down by September 30, 2006 and liquidated by December 30, 2006

 

3.  Rural Small Schools Grant – Eligibility Changes Estimated

 

Districts that were eligible during school year 2003-04 for the Rural Small Schools Grant will still be eligible, with the exception of those noted on the following tables.  A district needs to have a locale code of 7 or 8 to receive the grant and have less than 600 students, based on the Average Daily Attendance (ADA) data received by the State January, 2004. 

 

Districts probably newly eligible for the Rural Small School Grant:

 

Estimate of Districts Newly Eligible for the Rural Small Schools Grant
District	Code	Notes
China – Union 52	7	Reclassified from 6 to 7
Durham – Union 30	8	Reclassified from 6 to 8
Litchfield – Union 44	7	Reclassified from 6 to 7 - Had RLI grant last year
Mountain View Youth Dev	8	New this year to the system
Woolwich – Union 47	7	Reclassified from 6 to 7
Vassalboro  - Union 52	7	Reclassified from 6 to 7 - Had RLI grant last year
SAD 70 Hodgdon	7	Lower enrollment - Had RLI grant last year

 

Districts probably not eligible for the Rural Small Grants who were eligible last year:

 

Estimate of Districts No Longer Eligible for the Rural Small Schools Grant
District	Code	Notes
Bar Harbor – Union 98	6	Reclassified from 7 - will not meet RLI poverty
Milford – Union 90	4	Reclassified from 7
Orrington – Union 91	4	Reclassified from 7
SAD 63 Holden	4, 8	Reclassified from 8

 

4.  Rural Low–Income Grants (RLI)

 

Rural Low-Income Grants are administered through the State Title VI Rural Education Office. To be eligible a district must not be eligible for the Rural Small Schools Grant and must have a locale code of 6, 7 or 8.   Many of the districts eligible last year will still be eligible this year.  Some districts have been newly assigned a locale code of 4 or 5 along with the eligible codes of 6, 7 and 8.  Districts assigned these additional codes are not eligible for rural funding.  Maine has requested a code review by the United States Education Department for those districts who were eligible for the grant last year and, with the addition of additional codes, are no longer eligible.  The United States Education Department will make a decision in June whether to reclassify the codes and if they accept the State’s recommendations of removing codes 4 or 5 from a district’s locale code, those districts will be eligible for an RLI grant.

 

Districts that are in danger of losing Rural Education funding because of code changes:   

 

Rural Low-Income Grant Code Review Requested
District	Qualify with Title IA Criteria	Problems
Augusta	YES if	Code 5 changed
Bath	YES if	Code 5 changed
Caribou	YES if	Code 5 changed
Millinocket	YES if	Code 4 Changed
SAD 5 Rockland	YES if	Code 5 changed
SAD 34 Belfast	YES if	Code 5 changed
SAD 36 Livermore	YES if	Code 4 changed
SAD 54 Skowhegan	YES if	Code 5 changed
Union 90 Milford	New if	Code 4 changed to 6
SAD 63 Holden	New if	Codes 4,8 changed to 6,8

 

Rural Low-Income Districts probably newly eligible:

 

RLI Districts That May Be Newly Eligible
District	Code	Notes
Ellsworth	7	20.13 % Title 1A %
Madawaska	6	21.17 % Title 1A %
SAD 16 Hallowell	6	21.34 % Title 1A %

 

 Rural Low-Income Districts probably not eligible:

 

RLI Districts Probably Not Eligible
District	Code	Notes
SAD 28 Camden	6, 7	10.09 % Title IA % (needs 20% or more)
Union 29 Poland	8	18.69 % Title IA %  (needs 20% or more)
Union 44 Litchfield	7	Now Rural Small Schools
Union 52 Vassalboro	7	Now Rural Small Schools

 

The contact for these programs is Dennis Kunces.  If you have any questions, please contact him via e-mail at: dennis.kunces@maine.gov or call the Title VI office at 624-6815.  Information will be posted on our website www.maine.gov/education/nclb as soon as it is available.    Please note that the NCLB section of the website is in a construction phase which may delay posting of updates.

 

 

 

 

Attachment:

Locale Code Definitions

 

Locale Code	Locale Type	Definition
1	Large Central City	Central city of a Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) with a population greater than or equal to 250,000.
2	Mid-size Central City	Central City of an MSA with a population less than 250,000.
3	Urban Fringe of Large City	Place within an MSA of a Large Central City and defined as urban by the Census Bureau.
4	Urban Fringe of Mid-Size City	Place within an MSA of a Mid-size Central City and defined as urban by the Census Bureau.
5	Large Town	Town not within an MSA, with a population greater than or equal to 25,000.
6	Small Town	Town not within an MSA and with a population less than 25,000 and greater than or equal to 2,500 people.
7	Rural, outside MSA	A place with less than 2,500 people and coded rural and outside an MSA by the Census Bureau.
8	Rural, inside MSA	A place with less than 2,500 people and coded rural and inside an MSA by the Census Bureau.