Of the many factors that affect what school districts buy and do for their students, an often-overlooked issue is the influence of federal education grant programs. Nearly every school district in the country receives funding from the US Department of Education (ED) through grant programs that support elementary and secondary education. While this…

Each year, the federal government provides billions of dollars to support low-income schools through the federal Title I program. Most of this money goes to Title I schools operating schoolwide programs. Schoolwide schools have authority under federal law to use Title I funds--and in some cases, other federal funds--flexibly to upgrade their…

While the federal government spends billions of dollars every year on federal education programs, federal policymakers and education advocates often lament that these programs do not achieve their intended results--specifically, increasing student academic achievement. To address this problem, policymakers and advocates typically debate the merits…

Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, a federal program to provide additional assistance to academically struggling students in high-poverty areas, has long contained a provision called the "supplement-not-supplant" requirement. This provision was designed to ensure Title I funds were spent on extra educational services…