WASHINGTON, MARCH 11, 2011--A host of education experts gathered to discuss potential ways to improve Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) at a joint American Enterprise Institute and Center for American Progress event Friday. Title I, which offers financial support to low-income schools and school districts, is the largest school program run by the US Department of Education and will be a key part of discussions during the future reauthorization of ESEA. During the first panel, Melissa Junge of the Federal Education Group argued that the "supplement not supplant" provision of Title I--whereby federal funds should be added to, and not replace, state and local education funds--could discourage creative solutions to K-12 problems. As discussant David DeSchryver of Whiteboard Advisors said, "'Supplement not supplant' puts a wet blanket on innovation." Brenda Turnbull of Policy Studies Associates noted in the second panel that this is due in part to the estimated 588 Title I compliance requirements each state faces--made all the more difficult in light of the recent recession that has stripped a majority of state education departments of at least 10 percent of their operating budgets. Martin West of Harvard University picked up on this theme in the third panel, arguing that the current fiscal downturn would lead to a "prolonged restraint," forcing districts to more wisely consider how Title I funds were spent. During the conclusion, Carmel Martin of the US Department of Education and Celia Sims of the office of Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) discussed challenges facing Title I during reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind Act, the current version of ESEA. Sims pointed out legal complications, noting, for example, that a school can spend Title I dollars on trailers for classroom space but not on new construction for a school building. Any reform would have to grapple with such inconsistencies. As Martin noted in closing, Title I reforms need to address the heart of the law's purpose--a move from tracking every dollar spent to the more broad measure of "are low-income districts treated equitably?"

--DANIEL LAUTZENHEISER