DOCUMENT RESUME UD 035 160 ED 466 515 Title I Program. Hearing before a Subcommittee of the TITLE Committee on Appropriations. United States Senate, One Hundred Seventh Congress, First Session, Special Hearing (Jackson, Mississippi, April 20, 2001). Congress of the U.S., Washington, DC. Senate Committee on INSTITUTION Appropriations. Senate-Hrg-107-46 REPORT NO 2001-00-00 PUB DATE NOTE 39p. Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing AVAILABLE FROM Office, Mail Stop: SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001. Tel: 202-512-1800; Tel: 866-512-1800 (Toll Free); Fax: 202-512-2250; Web site: http://www.bookstore.gpo.gov; Web site: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate. Legal/Legislative/Regulatory Materials (090) PUB TYPE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage. EDRS PRICE *Disadvantaged Youth; Educational Finance; Elementary DESCRIPTORS Secondary Education; Enrollment Trends; Grants; Hearings; Minority Group Children; Parent School Relationship; Poverty; Resource Allocation Congress 107th; *Elementary Secondary Education Act Title I; IDENTIFIERS Mississippi ABSTRACT This hearing reviewed the Title I Grants to LEAs [local education agencies] (Title I) Program of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. Title I is the largest federal education program for elementary and secondary schools. Since 1965, it has made nearly $133 billion available to states and school districts to improve the opportunity for a good education among disadvantaged students. This hearing provided the United States Senate with information on how the Title I Program works in Mississippi. The hearing included statements by Dr. Richard Thompson, State Superintendent of Education, Mississippi Department of Education; Dr. Lynn House, Bureau Director, Office of Innovative Support, Mississippi Department of Education; Joyce B. McNair, Superintendent, Humphreys County School District; Dr. Therrell Myers, Superintendent, Columbus Municipal School District; and Dr. Daniel Watkins, Superintendent, Yazoo City Municipal School District. The hearing also included a prepared statement by the Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi Department of Education. (SM) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the on inal document. 107-46 S. HRG. TITLE I PROGRAM HEARING BEFORE A SUBCOMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED SEVENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION SPECIAL HEARING APRIL 20, 2001JACKSON, MISSISSIPPI Printed for the use of the Committee on Appropriations U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) ElieThis document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this document do not necessarily represent official OERI position or policy. Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.access.gpo.gov/congress/senate C.) U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE rI WASHINGTON : 2002 72-478 PDF O For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512-1800; DC area (202) 512-1800 Fax: (202) 512-2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402-0001 2 BEST COPY AVAILABLE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS TED STEVENS, Alaska, Chairman ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina PETE V. DOMENICI, New Mexico PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHRISTOPHER S. BOND, Missouri TOM HARKIN, Iowa MITCH McCONNELL, Kentucky BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland CONRAD BURNS, Montana HARRY REID, Nevada RICHARD C. SHELBY, Alabama HERB KOHL, Wisconsin JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire PATTY MURRAY, Washington ROBERT F. BENNETT, Utah BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota BEN NIGHTHORSE CAMPBELL, Colorado DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California LARRY CRAIG, Idaho RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas TIM JOHNSON, South Dakota MIKE DEWINE, Ohio MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana STEVEN J. CORTESE, Staff Director LISA SUTHERLAND, Deputy Staff Director JAMES H. ENGLISH, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATEDAGENCIES ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania, Chairman TOM HARKIN, Iowa THAD COCHRAN, Mississippi ERNEST F. HOLLINGS, South Carolina JUDD GREGG, New Hampshire DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii LARRY CRAIG, Idaho HARRY REID, Nevada as KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Tex HERB KOHL, Wisconsin TED STEVENS, Alaska PATTY MURRAY, Washington MIKE DEWINE, Ohio MARY L. LANDRIEU, Louisiana ROBERT C. BYRD, West Virginia (Ex officio) Professional Staff BETTILOU TAYLOR MARY DIETRICH JIM SOURWINE ELLEN MURRAY (Minority) Administrative Support CORREY Div CAROLE GEAGLEY (Minority) BEST COPY AVAILABLt 3 CONTENTS Page Opening statement of Senator Thad Cochran 1 Statement of Dr. Richard Thompson, State Superintendent of Education, Mississippi Department of Education 2 Statement of Dr. Lynn House, bureau director, Office of Innovative Support, Mississippi Department of Education 4 Statement of Joyce B. McNair, superintendent, Humphreys County School District 5 Prepared statement 7 Statement of Dr. Therrell Myers, superintendent, Columbus Municipal School District 8 Prepared statement 10 Statement of Dr. Daniel Watkins, superintendent, Yazoo City Municipal School District 11 Prepared statement 13 Prepared statement of the Office of Research and Statistics, Mississippi De- partment of Education 21 4 BEST COPY AVAILABLL TITLE I PROGRAM FRIDAY, APRIL 20, 2001 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND RELATED AGENCIES, COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS, Jackson, MS. The subcommittee met at 10 a.m., in the auditorium of the Cen- tral High School Building, Mississippi Department of Education, Hon. Thad Cochran presiding. Present: Senator Cochran. OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR THAD COCHRAN Senator COCHRAN. Good morning. It's a pleasure for me to con- vene and welcome you to this hearing of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations. The subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies is chaired by Senator Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, who has authorized me to chair this hearing. This is the second hearing of the subcommittee we've had in Mississippi this week. The first, in Bay Saint Louis, examined the effectiveness ,of the National Writing Project in Mis- sissippi schools, particularly schools on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. We appreciate very much the assistance of Dr. Richard Thomp- son, superintendent of Mississippi Department of Education, and Dr. Susan Rucker, associate superintendent, and their staff mem- bers in preparation for this hearing and for allowing us to use this auditorium. The purpose of today's hearing is to review the Title I Grants to LEAs (Title I) Program of the Elementary and Secondary Edu- cation Act. Title I is the largest Federal education program for ele- mentary and secondary schools. It was enacted as part of the first comprehensive Federal education program in 1965. Since then, nearly $133 billion have been made available to States and school districts to improve opportunities for a good education of disadvan- taged students. In the first year, Mississippi schools received about $24 million from the Title I program. Last year, our. State's share amounted to about $126 million. Out of the student population in Mississippi's public schools of about 500,000, about 150,000 are Title I eligible students. Most of the schools in Mississippi receive Title I funds. This hearing provides the United States Senate with an oppor- tunity to learn more about the Title I Program and how it is work- ing in Mississippi. We're very pleased to have such a distinguished panel of witnesses today to discuss this with me, and I'm looking (1) BEST COPY AVAILABLL 2 forward to their testimony. Each witness, has provided the sub- committee with written testimony, which we make a part of the hearing record. We also have written materials furnished to the committee and presented to me this morning by the State Depart- ment of Education about the Title I Program, and that will be made a part of the hearing record, as well. I invite the witnesses the to make whatever comments, verbal testimony available to committee that you think will assist us in understanding the issues before us. [CLERK'S NOTE.The material submitted is being retained in the Subcommittee files.] Senator COCHRAN. Panel 1: Dr: Richard Thompson, State Super- intendent of Education, Mississippi Department of Education; Dr. Lynn House, Bureau Director, Office of Innovative Support, Mis- sissippi Department of Education; Ms. Joyce B. McNair, Super- intendent, Humphreys County School District; Dr. Therrell Myers, Superintendent, Columbus Municipal School District; Dr. Daniel Watkins, Superintendent, Yazoo City Municipal School District. Dr. Richard Thompson is the State superintendent of education for Mississippi. He earned his Doctorate of Education and Master's Degree froin the University of North Carolina. Dr. Lynn House is the director of the Office of Innovative Support of the Mississippi Department of Education and administers the Title I Program in Mississippi. Dr. House has 26 yeais of experience as an educator. She's been a principal, teacher and a teacher educator. She holds Master's Degree from a Ph.D from the University of Mississippi, a Firmin University and a Bachelor's Degree from the University of New Orleans. Ms. Joyce McNair is the superintendent of the Hum- phreys County School District. She attended Humphreys County schools before earning her Bachelor's Degree at Tulane College and her Master's Degree from Delta State University. Ms. McNair is currently enrolled in a doctoral program at Delta State. She has 31 Dr. Therrell MyerS is su- years of experience as a public educator. perintendent of the Columbus Municipal School District. He's been served as associate super- an educator for 27 years. He previously intendent at the Mississippi Department of Education. He has a Ph.D from Mississippi State University. Dr. Daniel Watkins is the superintendent of the Yazoo City School District. He earned his Bachelor's, Master's and Ph.D in educational specialties at Jackson State University. I welcome you all to our hearing and invite you to proceed. Dr. Thompson, we'll start with you. Thank you very much. STATEMENT OF DR. RICHARD THOMPSON, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION, MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Dr. THOMPSON. Senator Cochran, thank you so much for being here and conducting this hearing, and we really appreciate the op- portunity to present. As you have indicated, I have some literal in- formation in support of our strong opinion of the value of Title I in the schools for the children in Mississippi. My comments this morning will be not repetitious of the ones that I had submitted necessarily in writing, but I do want to try to make significant that since 1985, we believe that Mississippi has made more progress than any other State in the Nation in edu- BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 3 cation. And one of the unfortunate things is that we were so far behind. In fact, a former governor of the "State once said that, in 1954, in the history of our State, only 1 in 4 white children will graduate from high school in Mississippi. At that same time, in the history of our State, 1 in 40 black children will graduate from high school. To have the tremendous improvement we've had has only been made possible through the additional resources by this title. We were so pleased just last April 9th, just a few days ago, when a major press release was released by the name of the National As- sessment of Educational Progress Report, that stated that Mis- sissippi is one of 4 States in the Nation that had made the most progress with their bottom children and also their top children and had improved on more indicators than any other State, with the ex- ception of Connecticut, Kentucky and North Carolina. So we felt very good about that. Well, again, I would point out that it is the infusion of those dol- lars, such as Title I, that have allowed us to make this progress. And we continue to have great need, because, as you know, 65 per- cent of the children in Mississippi that are in public schools are on free or reduced lunch. And we know the poverty standard that's ap- plied to Title I, and Title I allocation is different, and it only re- flects 27 percent of our children in poverty. And it is somewhat conflicted, but we know that that standard does create some prob- lems for us, because we believe that many of our children are actu- ally in poverty that may not be reflected by that particular sta- tistic. There is no question that as we move into our new accountability system,. that Title I funds will be more important than; perhaps, they have ever been. Our State struggles with the -need. to provide quality., pre-kindergarten programs for Our youngsters. And at this point, there is not a single State dollar that goes into. that program. The brain !research that's being developed indicates that one of the most significant things you could do for our children is to provide a quality program of pre-kindergarten. And the data is over- whelming. One research has indicated it may be as much as a 16.5 differential, based on that kind of experience. So what is happening is 61 of our locations have chosen to use Title I dollars to help with that significant problem, and it is making a difference. In addition to that, we, in our new accountability system, are holding everyone -accountable, teachers, principals, superintend- ents, school board members and, yes, students for improvement standards and increasing achievement. One of the things we know we must do is we must view this, not as a punitive measure, but a measure of diagnosing the needs of children early on and pro- viding the kind of resources that help intervention, if you will, to meet those needs so these children can achieve and have an oppor- tunity to the quality of life as any other child in America would have. And many of our districts have only this pot of money to look to provide that additional help, perhaps an after-school program, perhaps an early childhood program, for some of our youngsters at the high school level, even, the only remediation our districts can reach is Title I. BEST COPY AVAILABLL 4 Again, Senator, we're so grateful to you for your leadership and what you're doing for our State, and we stand ready to assist you and your committee any way that we can. Senator COCHRAN. Thank you very much, Dr. Thompson. We'll proceed. now turn to Dr. Lynn House. Welcome. You may STATEMENT OF DR. LYNN HOUSE, BUREAU DIRECTOR, OFFICE OF IN- NOVATIVE SUPPORT, MISSISSIPPI DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Dr. HOUSE. Thank you so much, Senator Cochran and thanks to for today and your staff for helping us get everything organized special thanks to the superintendents here today who will also be testifying. First of all, I would like to emphasize the fact that the 152 school districts in our State all receive Title I funds. Every one of these districts spend literally months and many hours in the planning wisely. In process, so that every single cent of that money is spent fact, they're in the process now of completing their consolidated ap- plication that will be the fruit to bear from all that planning. I also would like to say that we have received our preliminary allocation- from the USDE. That preliminary allocation indicates that we will take a two to three percent cut in our funding for the coming year. When we reflect on what that means to our children and our district,' this is the kind of scene that we predict: First of all, we believe that at least 6,500 students will no longer receive Title I services. We also believe that a minimum of 75 teachers will that those no longer be there to provide the instructional support Title I children need. You heard Dr. Thompson mention the importance of pre-K pro- how vital that grams. We really have emphasized to our districts aspect of Title I is. We believe that we will not only see districts failing to implement pre-K programs with Title 1 dollars, we're really concerned that some of those that are currently in: existence will be cut. We also *believe very strongly that extended days, ex- tended year programs that are funded through Title I are providing that additional instructional time that so many youngsters need to be successful academically. Those programs will also suffer. Profes- sional development is another area that we believe will be cut with this funding reduction. Professional development is the way we help our teachers grow in their profession, so that they, indeed, can truly meet the needs of these youngsters who are at risk. Parent centers and parent activities, we believe, will also be impacted neg- atively by these cuts. We know the importance of involving parents in the education of their children. Those activities are, of course, required by Title I and will continue in some degree, but we also believe that some of the innovations will be cut with this funding loss. And lastly, I'd like to say that from the State perspective, we do districts. We a lot in trying to provide technical assistance to our believe we are a service agency, not just a regulatory agency. So we're in the district every year helping them with the planning help them process and doing some problem solving with them to understand how best to go about meeting the needs of their chil- dren through their Title I funding. We believe that because of the BEST COPY AVAILABLE 8 5 cut, we, too, will have to cut back on providing those services in some form or fashion. I'd like to close by just reading to you what Hilton Miller said about Title I. You might not know Hilton Miller, but he's one of our 2000 distinguished graduates for our Title I recognition program sponsored by the USDE. Hilton Miller said this: On this ladder that society calls life, I have come to realize that one step does not lead to another, it is the individual who decides whether or not to continue to climb, and if so,- which step he or she must conquer. The Title I program helped me make my climb. Now, Hilton Miller, who was very recently the vice president of the University of Mis- sissippi Law School student body is now a practicing attorney. He credited his success in many ways to the Title I program and what that program was able to do for him. His story is just one of thou- sands. We know we're impacting our children positively, and with the loss of funding, we know that impact will be lessened. So we would certainly request that you do everything you can, as we know you will, to -help Mississippi receive its fair share of funding so that we, too, can continue to impact students like Hilton Miller. Senator COCHRAN. Thank you very much, Dr. House. Let's now turn to Ms. Joyce McNair. Welcome. STATEMENT OF JOYCE B. McNAIR, SUPERINTENDENT, HUMPHR.EYS COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT Ms. McNAIR. Good morning. It's an honor to be here, and we thank you for coming to our State. And I would like 'to share with you, .I am from Humphreys County, the Mississippi Delta. We are a rural community. Forty-five percent of the students in my district live in poverty. Seventy-five percent of those students come from single parent homes. Our district serves. approximately 2,300 chil- dren from pre-K to 12. We were once a. thriving farming. commu- nity. We have very little industry. Our farms are .disappearing, and our children are suffering because of the economics in our commu- nity. But it has been through the efforts of our Title I funds that We have been able to provide services to our children and our fami- lies, as well as our staff in enabling them to reach and teach those children. We have, in our community, because of the educational level, 50- something percent of our population that's 25 or 'older who do not have, high school degrees. Of our community, 12 percent have grad- uated from college or have higher degrees. So when our children come into our school districts because of this environment, they come language delayed, but through the efforts of Title I, our stu- dents are able to achieve and overcome this barrier because of the programs in our district that we use our Title I funds for. Our reading initiative is one that I would like to share with you that we are doing with our Title I funds. If these are cut, it will have a devastating effect on our students served by our reading ini- tiative. It is a statewide reading initiative, but for us, it is a crucial initiative, because we know the children cannot read, and they're not going to be successful. We use those funds in our reading initia- tive to diagnose children. We use an analytical reading inventory, and from this inventory, we are able to do prescriptive interven- BEST COPY AVAILABLE 6 tion. And this is where our Title I teachers come in. They actually work with the students on their weaknesses and strengths. We pre- scribe and we help each other as teachers in our district to come will work for these students. up with intervention strategies that And this happens in our early grades, because if we do not start early, then they will not be successful in school. Not only do we use it with our reading initiative, but it enables us to hire extra teach- provide a lot of one-on- ers to reduce our class size, enable us to one attention that our children need. Many of our children, to share something else about our district, students that ride as our children, the majority of them, we have long as 45 minutes, one way, to school. And these are kinder- gartners that may be doing that. So when they arrive at school, we have to be there to provide them with all the necessary equipment and resources to enable them to have a good education. We also use our Title I funds to offset, to work with our parents. We have a parent center, and in this parent center, we have liai- with our parents. We sons that go out into our homes and work have found that, in our community, it is very difficult to get par- ents to come to the school. And through Title I, we're bridging that involved, because we're send- gap, we're seeing them become more ing our parent center people out to the homes, to their workplaces, and they're meeting With them. Our community businesses have been very good to us about letting us come into their businesses and meet with our parents, so we can share progress reports or any other information that they may need about school. Not only will the parent center do these things, but that parent center provides training for our parents, teaching them how to help with their chil- dren, how to be parents, parenting skills, how to help with home- work. And we're also 'training them to be educators, because they are their= children's first teachers. We have used those funds over the years to:---not only do we care about our underachieving students, but we do have some very bright children in our district. And to address those needs, we've taken our Title I funds to host a Saturday academy. And we brought in teachers from Mississippi schools of math and science graders, to work with our students, these are eighth and ninth also, and train our teachers in mathematics and, science. Our par- ents were a part of this program, they came on Saturday also. And believe it or not, we targeted 40 students, and every Saturday, we had 40 students plus parents there, because there was an edu- cational need. PREPARED STATEMENT And lastly but not least, I would like to say that, without these funds, districts like mine, well, the impact would be tremendous. And we use our dollars wisely to meet the needs of all of our chil- dren, because our children are our most precious resource. And in of Humphreys Coun- our district, we believe truly that the children ty should be afforded every educational opportunity as children anywhere in America. Thank you. [The statement follows:] BEST COPY AVAILA8L