Our Empowerment and Leadership Development Team has been working to support and advocate for the families of 4 Montgomery County Schools that have lost Title 1 status. These schools include Oak View Elementary, Strathmore Elementary, Brookhaven Elemmentary, and Viers Mill Elementary. “Title I” is part of a law called the Federal Elementary and Secondary Education Act created in 1965. The goal of Title I is to provide extra money for schools needing additional support so that they can offer the same services available at schools that don’t need that support. Title I makes sure that federal financial aid is added to state and local funds to which all public school children are entitled. Title I gives extra funding for things like more teachers and paraeducators resulting in smaller class size; parent engagement opportunities; and summer school, among others.

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Why did OVES lose Title I status? What has changed?  MCPS has changed the way that they calculate financial needs. Instead of using FARMS applications, the new MCPS formula now uses the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participation numbers. Many families in the Oak View community cannot or do not receive SNAP, so our children are not all being counted! This new calculation makes it incorrectly seem like Oak View is less in need of financial support. Because of this change, OVES no longer qualifies for the $400,000 that it used to receive as a Title I school.