Matthew Joseph is a Senior Policy Advisor at ExcelinEd.
Last week, we explored how—and how much—most states provide in supplemental funding for low-income students. Yet states are facing a new challenge in how best to identify these students. For several decades, states used eligibility for free and reduced-price meals (FARM), which is set at 185 percent of the federal poverty level. However, to better support student nutrition, the federal government no longer requires the vast majority of schools to establish annual FARM eligibility for individual students.
This week, ExcelinEd describes the best practices to accurately and readily identify low-income students for supplemental school funding.
One approach is to use family participation in social services programs that have income criteria similar to FARM. These include the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Medicaid. States can “directly certify” these students without requiring any extra paperwork. In Florida, for example, schools regularly upload the names of their students to a state database and are informed about which of their students are FARM eligible. This system is available statewide and is used by traditional school districts, public charter schools and private schools.
In addition to a family’s household income, neighborhood conditions matter, too, and they can significantly impact a student’s success in school. In Texas, funding for low-income students is adjusted based on the census block in which the student lives. The state considers four factors to characterize each census block: median household income, average educational attainment, single-parent household share and home ownership share. Each census block is then ranked into one of five tiers, with students living in the most distressed neighborhoods receiving the largest adjustment for supplemental funding.
Direct certification coupled with a neighborhood adjustment provide an accurate measure of student poverty. Schools can readily use this information to access supplemental funding in a timely manner to help serve their students.
