OXFORD — The Oxford Hills School District has lost nearly $20,000 in Title I and Title II federal funding, possibly impacting student learning and staff development.

The cut will affect projected Title I carry-over savings for this year and positions in the next school year, Curriculum Director Kathy Elkins said Tuesday.

“I tried to plan for a maximum allowed carry-over for (fiscal year 2013) but the cuts to (fiscal year 2012) will cut into that (fiscal year 2013) carry-over and impact what we will be able to do in (fiscal year 2013),” she said.

The cut in Title II money reduces staff development funding for fiscal year 2012.

Elkins reported to the Board of Directors this week that the district was notified recently that Congress had voted a 1.5 percent rescission to the fiscal year 2012 funding, which is paid to schools under the federal No Child Left Behind law.

“On Oct. 24, we were notified that cuts to Title I and II funds for (fiscal year 2012) would be $17,365 and $2,192, respectively,” Elkins said.

This year, the district is spending $975,868 under Title I to support literacy and math interventions, and $117,872 under Title II primarily to reduce class sizes and for staff development.

The Title 1 money includes $151,600 for outside special tutors in the Oxford Elementary School because it was placed on Continuous Improvement Priority School status several years ago by the Department of Education for not meeting adequate yearly progress under the No Child Left Behind Act.

CIPS status means the school must show two years of improved scores going forward and it must provide tutoring to those students who have not met adequate yearly progress. If the school fails to meet adequate yearly progress for a third year in a row, the students are eligible for supplemental education such as tutoring outside the normal school day.

Elkins said $23,933 of the Title 1 expenditures for tutoring services will come back to the district. 

District elementary schools in Oxford, West Paris, Norway, Harrison and Paris receive Title I funding for literacy and math interventionists amounting to a little more than $600,000.

If Maine’s No Child Left Behind waiver is approved, it will free up $150,000 in fiscal  year 2013 Title I money.

Title 1 was established in the 1960s to provide federal assistance to school districts with a high percentage of low income families. The money is used to help students who are at most risk for failing.

Under the 2002 Federal No Child Left Behind Act, adequate yearly progress refers to the growth needed in the proportion of students who achieved the state benchmarks of academic proficiency.

This fall the Obama administration released guidelines for states interested in securing waivers from certain provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind law.

Education Commissioner Stephen Bowen said the news about the possible waiver of some conditions is “an opportunity for us to move beyond the unrealistic targets of adequate yearly progress and devote our attention to a host of promising improvements already under way in our schools.”

ldixon@sunjournal.com

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