The Federal government provides just under ten percent of all money spent on education nationwide. While it cannot by itself make up for the enormous inequities inherent in state and local education systems, it is a very significant amount when targeted to the districts, schools, and students with the greatest educational need. Since the original passage of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) in 1965, various federal programs, including Title I (which uses funding formulas based on the number of poor children served), the Individuals with Disabilities in Education Act, the 21st Century Community Learning Center program (afterschool and summer programs), and others have created and funded programs for children with greater needs.
The No Child Left Behind Act - the 2002 reauthorization of ESEA - brought a large initial increase in federal funding coupled with new accountability requirements. FY 2011 funding for all of Title I programs for schools serving disadvantaged students was approximately $14.5 billion. Under the law, schools that fail to meet certain accountability measures are required to give parents access to supplemental educational services (SES) – typically afternoon tutoring programs through independent organizations or companies. Funding for SES programs comes out of federal Title I money. Districts deemed underperforming are required to reserve up to 20 percent of their Title I funds for students who choose SES tutoring or to transfer to higher-performing public schools.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (the 2009 federal economic stimulus law) provided some direct federal funding for expanded learning time. The Department of Education included “increased learning time” in its priorities for Race to the Top grants and made it a requirement in the School Improvement Grant (SIG) program’s school turnaround and transformation models. The law has spurred needed investment in expanded learning time, though state and district implementation of increased learning time has varied widely and the large infusion of general funding was tightly time limited, creating uncertainty for the future of the reforms even at the most successful schools. However, SIG and Race to the Top are ongoing programs and NCTL is hopeful that as promising models are shared and additional support is available, current and future grantees will increase time with even greater efficiency and continue the promising impact well-designed ELT programs have on closing the achievement gap.
The 21st Century Community Learning Center program, found in Title IV of ESEA, provides over $1 billion of federal education funding for children attending Title I schools. According to recent federal statistics, approximately two-thirds of that money goes to school districts operating supplemental programs for their students during after school or before school hours or during the summer time. Most of the rest goes to community groups, national non-profit organizations, and businesses that provide tutoring and similar education services to low-income students. The program is intended to help students meet state academic standards and provide additional enrichment activities to supplement their school curricula.
SES, SIG, and 21st Century all contribute to expanding learning opportunities for some of the students who need them most. However, this money can and should be used to greater effect. The SES and 21st Century programs, in particular, are too restrictive. Current law encourages or requires school districts to spend the resources on narrowly-defined efforts, directing them away from the full-school reforms that benefit all students. More flexibility to allow local education leaders to choose which reforms are right for their communities, including full-school reforms that benefit all students, all day, every day, would help expand learning opportunities and provide quality education to more students.