Washington County School District trustees and staff on March 26 reviewed changes to how Title I discretionary funds will be distributed for the 2018–19 school year, including cutting one low‑ranked school from Title I allocations and reducing per‑pupil discretionary amounts for others.

District staff described a tiered per‑pupil allocation (PPA) model that was used in 2017–18 and how the district proposes to modify it for the coming year. "We don't want to pull the rug totally out from under these schools," a board member said, describing the intent to spread available Title I dollars more broadly rather than eliminate support for many schools.

Kathy, a district staff member who presented the spreadsheet of allocations, said the district previously used three PPA tiers: $500, $450 and $350 per poverty student in 2017–18. For 2018–19 the proposed PPA amounts are $425 for the top tier, $375 for the middle tier and $200 for the bottom tier. Kathy said those per‑pupil amounts represent discretionary dollars; other Title I resources such as funding for substitutes, before/after‑school programs and a site coordinator remain in place.

Kathy and other staff said the district initially recommended removing four bottom‑tier schools from Title I discretionary allocations but, after discussion, chose to keep all but Enterprise on reduced funding for at least one additional year. Staff said Enterprise had ranked lowest for three consecutive years and therefore lost discretionary Title I funds entirely under the proposed plan.

Staff noted that the redistribution required taking small amounts from many schools to leave funds for bottom‑tier schools that otherwise would have been cut. The presentation identified example schools by name and rank changes: Red Mountain moved from an eighth to a tenth position in rank order and therefore saw a reduction in its allocation; Water Canyon was identified as receiving a smaller percentage cut than the most affected schools. Board members asked whether the affected schools had been informed; staff replied they had shared the information with principals and had not yet received widespread formal complaints.

Trustees and staff discussed program additions funded from Title I discretionary savings, including hiring six grade‑level specialists and funding three days of additional training for Title I teachers, as well as retaining districtlevel supports such as I‑Ready software and a half‑time technology position funded by Title I.

Board members asked how long it might take to reach the district's stated goal of limiting the number of Title I schools to 10. Staff said the timeline would depend on multi‑year poverty counts and could require schools to remain in the bottom tier for at least two consecutive years before losing funding. They also noted that boundary changes and shifting demographics can change rankings from year to year.

The discussion concluded with trustees endorsing the compromise approach to keep most schools on Title I support at reduced per‑pupil allocations while removing one persistently low‑ranked school from discretionary funding. There was no formal motion or recorded vote on Title I allocation during this portion of the meeting.