Federal Grants - Overview
The purpose of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015, is to provide ALL children with a significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education and to close educational achievement gaps.
Each Local Education Agency (LEA), or school district, that receives ESEA funds, as amended by ESSA, must make funds available for education support authorized by each title to qualified students in compliance with Federal Law, Federal Regulations, and Non-Regulatory Guidance.
Programs Eligible for Equitable Services in Jasper County Include:
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- Title I, Part A - Improving Basic Programs Operated by LEAs
- Title II, Part A – Supporting Effective Instruction
- Title III, Part A – Language Instruction for English Learners and Immigrant Students
- Title IV, Part A – Student Support and Academic Enrichment
- Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) - Housed under Special Services
Title I
To qualify for Title I, Part A assistance, a student must reside within the attendance area of a participating public school located in a low-income area and be failing, or at risk of failing, to meet student academic achievement standards. Poverty is not a requirement for eligibility to receive services.
Equitable Services include but is not limited to:
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- Secular, neutral, and non-ideological (Section 1120(a)(2) of ESEA)
- Supplemental, not supplanting (34 CFR 200.66(a))
- Allowable, reasonable, and necessary
- Examples of services:
- Instruction outside the regular classroom;
- Extended learning time (before and after school and in the summer);
- Family literacy programs;
- Early childhood education programs;
- Counseling;
- Home tutoring;
- Instruction using take-home computers;
- Computer-assisted instruction; and
- A combination of services listed above.
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Each Title I Schoolwide Program has an on-site Parent Center, facilitated by a Parent Liaison. Each Title I School is required to host workshops/training for parents that focus upon the academic needs of the students. While many of these workshops/training occur during daytime hours, others are held in the evenings. Additionally, these workshops/training are repeated, based upon attendance and parent requests.
Title II
The purpose of the Title II, Part A grant is:
- to increase student achievement consistent with challenging State academic standards,
- to improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals and other school leaders,
- to increase the number of teachers, principals and other school leaders who are effective in improving student academic achievement in schools, and
- to provide low-income and minority student greater access to effective teachers, principals and other school leaders.
- equipment supplies needed for professional development
- salaries of professional coaches, mentor teachers, special education mentors, and instructional coaches
- staff development in core content areas, teacher leadership programs, and professional learning community programs
Title III and Title III Immigrant
The purpose of Title III is to help ensure that children who are limited English proficient, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency, develop high levels of academic attainment in English, and meet the same challenging state academic content and student academic achievement standards as all children are expected to meet.
Multilingual Learners
In South Carolina, multilingual learners are identified by children and youth who
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- are aged 3-21;
- speak a language other than English on the Home Language Survey (HLS)/Enrollment Survey (ES); and
- have a qualifying score on the English language proficiency (ELP) assessment.
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ML Formula
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- Per pupil amount
- Total SC ML allocation / Total number of eligible MLs in SC
- District’s Allocation
- Per pupil amount * number of MLs in each district accepting funds
- Per pupil amount
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- Language Instruction Educational Program (LIEP)
- Professional Development
- Parent and Family Engagement
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Title III funding must follow the supplement, not supplant requirements, funds are available to all districts with MLs, districts may choose to waive funds, and some districts must form a consortium to accept funds to meet the $10,000.00 minimum requirement. Jasper County School District receives enough funding to provide an individualized plan of support for our district.
For FY2025, Jasper County School District also received Title III, Immigrant funds due to the increased immigrant student population.
Immigrant Children & Youth Definition
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- are aged 3 through 21;
- were not born in any state (U.S., Puerto Rico, and DC); and
- have not attended one or more schools in any one or more states for more than three full academic years (on a cumulative basis).
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Title III, Part A Immigrant Subgrants Allowable uses as stated in ESSA Section 3115(e) includes:
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- Family literacy, parent and family outreach, and training activities designed to assist parents and families to become more active participants in the education of their children
- Recruitment of and support for personnel, including teachers and paraprofessionals who have been specifically trained, or are being trained, to provide services to immigrant children and youth
- Provision of tutorials, mentoring, and academic or career counseling for immigrant children and youth
- Identification, development, and acquisition of curricular materials, educational software, and technologies to be used in the program
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- Basic instructional services that are directly attributable to the presence of immigrant children and youth in the LEA, including the payment of costs of providing additional classroom supplies, costs of transportation, or such other costs as are directly attributable to such additional basic instructional services
- Other instructional services that are designed to assist immigrant children and youth to achieve in elementary and secondary schools in the U.S., such as programs of introduction to the educational system and civics education
- Activities coordinated with community-based organizations, institutions of higher education, private sector entities, or other entities with expertise in working with immigrants to assist parents and families of immigrant children and youth by offering comprehensive community services
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Districts that receive this funding must follow Supplement, Not Supplant Requirements. The State uses the following Immigrant Formula to Determine A School District’s Allocation:
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- If district has met the minimum immigrant requirements, it is eligible to receive an immigrant subgrant allocation.
- Each qualifying district receives a $10,000.00 base amount.
- The remaining immigrant set-aside is divided by the number of eligible immigrant children to determine the per pupil dollar amount. The number of eligible immigrant children is identified by adding the immigrant students in all qualifying districts.
- The per pupil amount is multiplied by the number of eligible immigrants in each district and added to the base allocation to determine each district’s allocation.
Title IV
Title IV, Part A, (also known as the Student Support and Academic Enrichment Grants or SSAE) in the 2015 reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act supports our nation's commitment to equity of opportunity for all students. The Title IV, Part A the Student Support and Academic Enrichment (SSAE) program is intended to ensure all children graduate from high school ready to thrive in college and careers by increasing the capacity of State education agencies (SEAs), local education agencies (LEAs), schools, and local communities to:
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- Provide all students with access to a well-rounded education;
- Improve school conditions for student learning; and
- Improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students.
- Well-Rounded
- College and Career
- STEM
- Arts, Music, Health Education
- Safe and Healthy
- Improving dropout prevention
- Community involvement
- Technology
- Support of high-quality PD
- Digital learning for rural, remote, and underserved areas
Title V (formerly Title VI)
Grant funds awarded to local educational agencies as a formula grant (not competitive) shall be used for:
- teacher recruitment and retention, including the use of signing bonuses and other financial incentives;
- teacher professional development, including programs that train teachers to utilize technology to improve teaching and to train special needs teachers;
- educational technology, including software and hardware, as described in part D of Title II;
- parental involvement activities;
- activities authorized under the Safe and Drug-Free Schools program under part A of Title IV;
- activities authorized under part A of Title I; and
- activities authorized under Title III.
- retrieved from the SCDE - Title VI Program Office.
Community members and stakeholders are asked to provide input into the writing of this plan each year. The district conducts the planning meetings in the spring of each academic year.
Parent and Family Engagement Policy
What is Parenting Partners? In a word-engagement.
Parenting Partners™ workshops combine parenting and leadership skills that empower parents to become vital contributors to their children’s academic success. The eight comprehensive workshops are presented by each school’s own trained facilitator team multiple times year-round, in English and Spanish, creating a sustainable source of parent leaders.
Workshop topics:
1. Positive Parenting
2. Creating Confident Kids
3. Communication That Works
4. Creating Structure for Achievement
5. Discipline: Practice for Success
6. What Children and Teens Need to Succeed
7. Parents Engaged for Academic Success
8. Graduation
We Both Read/ Read with Me
We Both Read (Elementary): The training presentation is provided below for an overview of the initiative.
Read with Me (Middle School): Students and parents are provided a copy of the same book to read together. Parents are given strategies and questions to spark discussions before, during, and after reading.
Incentives are offered to participants in both programs to encourage students to read more and foster a love for books.
Study Buddy
Devices can be checked out by parents for use at home. Visit the Parenting Center at your child’s school for further information. The training presentation is provided below for an overview of the initiative.
FREE Book Fair
Mid-year and before summer vacation, all elementary and middle school students participate in a Free Books Fair. During this event, students select anywhere from 3 to 10 books to encourage reading outside of school and add to their, personal, libraries.
Presentations for Initiatives