Please Don't Shortchange Title I Students

The Chesterfield County School Board is faced with a $52 million budget shortfall for the coming school year, and has responded by proposing the elimination of staffing and programs specifically targeted to help economically disadvantaged students pass state SOL tests. These targeted programs work and are essential in helping county Title I schools that serve this demographic meet the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) goals and Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) benchmarks. Generally, a school may qualify as a Title I school if 40 percent or more of its students meet the United States Census definition for low income.

Center-based gifted schools and the Appomattox and Maggie Walker Governor's Schools cost the district millions of dollars annually but are exempt from cuts and public scrutiny. Pupil-teacher ratios in these programs will remain unchanged. In Chesterfield, most poor students, no matter how genetically gifted, will have their opportunity for inclusion in gifted services and Governor's School foreclosed before their 9th birthday. Children not enrolled in advanced math classes at the elementary school level will not advance to eighth grade honors algebra, which is a prerequisite course for Governor's School eligibility.

The board has also proposed elimination of payment for Advanced Placement (AP) tests, hurting poor students aspiring to college. The AP program initiative of Superintendent Marcus Newsome has increased the rigor of coursework taken by students of all races, and provided an excellent measure of accountability with which to measure achievement.

A SECOND benefit of funding AP testing is that poor students receive a "second look" at placement in rigorous AP classes through the AP Potential program, which utilizes the PSAT (Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test) to identify students with college potential. This program was implemented by former Superintendent Billy Cannaday.

Students selected to benefit from gifted education services receive an additional $21-perchild allocation to supplement their education. Gifted students consistently score in the top 3 percent on most ability and achievement tests. If it's cream, it will naturally rise to the top without this additional help. These funds must be used to acquire what is necessary and essential to accomplish district priorities of improving SOL performance and meeting NCLB goals and AYP benchmarks.

Maggie Walker Governor's School students will continue to receive PSAT preparation funded in the ninth, 10th, and 11th grades. In contrast, Chesterfield County School students will receive PSAT preparation only in the 10th and 11th grades. Affluent parents know that strong PSAT performance is a key first hurdle in admission to elite colleges. Providing the best exam prep opportunities only to Maggie Walker students is inequitable, handicapping the least advantaged students, not to mention the great majority in the middle.

THE BOARD will break its promise to Falling Creek Middle School and withdraw local funds used to replace Title I funds lost when its Title I status was changed in 2007. Literally without one word of discussion or debate, this board voted to remove Falling Creek Middle School's status as a Title I school after Falling Creek failed to achieve AYP as required of schools receiving Title I funds -- only to avoid the school-choice sanctions of NCLB, which allow students to transfer to a school meeting NCLB standards. This paper's Editorial Board supported school choice for these students.

Title I parents did not sit on the district's Budget Advisory Committee and provide input on the proposed budget. The Gifted Advisory Committee had input to the board and prevented cuts to the gifted program. Title I students bring 4 million federal dollars into the district annually. In contrast, the district funds the costly non-teaching administrators and staff for the gifted program. The voice of Title I parents must be institutionalized, as is the voice of the parents of gifted students.

Soon Chesterfield Schools will have numerically as many African-American students as Richmond Public Schools. The county's percentage of economically disadvantaged students of all races will soon top 30 percent. Recognized by America's Promise Alliance as one of the 100 Best Communities for Young People, Chesterfield must become one of the best communities for the young people categorized in NCLB subgroups.

It is imprudent to spend less on the education of the subgroup of students and schools most at risk of failure and prioritize spending for the group of students and schools with the strongest performance on SOL tests. The educational interests of Chesterfield's Title I students must not be sacrificed or compromised -- not now in the midst of this economic crisis, not ever.
Arthur Almore chairs the Chesterfield branch of the NAACP Education Committee. For more information, see www.chesterfieldnaacp.org.