2024–25 Title I, Part A School Allocations
Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) Winter Release data entry instructions for the 2024–25 Title I, Part A School Allocations data collection form.Data Collection Purpose
This data collection form is used to report the amount of funds to be allocated to eligible schools. Ranking information is based on student counts provided in the Title I, Part A School Student Counts data collection form.
This data collection form is required if the local educational agency (LEA) received a 2024–25 Title I, Part A allocation, regardless of the amount and whether LEA is a district, county office of education, or direct funded charter.Program Information
School Ranking Exceptions
The Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) facilitates LEAs in planning and allocating Title I, Part A consistent with program rules in statute posted on the California Department of Education (CDE) Title I, Part A web page. Certain exceptions to the rules are outlined in Every Student Succeeds Act Section 1113. In CARS, LEAs can use discretion codes, where allowable, to allocate funds to otherwise eligible schools. Please refer to the CDE Title I, Part A School Allocations web page for the definitions of the following discretion codes:
a:
Below LEA average and at or above 35% student low income
d: Waiver
for a school with a State-ordered, or court-ordered school desegregation plan on file
e: Grandfather Provision
f: Feeder Pattern
Small LEA Exemptions
If the LEA meets small LEA criteria, then ranking rules are not enforced, however submission of the form is still required. An LEA is defined as a small LEA if, based on the school list and the data entered in Title I, Part A School Student Counts, the LEA meets one or more of the following criteria:
- Is a single school LEA
- Has an enrollment total for all schools less than 1,000 students
Note: Discretion codes are not applicable for small LEAs.
CDE Program Staff Contact
Rina DeRose
Education Programs Consultant
Title I Policy, Program, and Support Office
rderose@cde.ca.gov
916-323-0472
Displayed Data - LEA Determinations
Low income measure: Data displays as selected by the LEA in the Title I, Part A School Student Counts data collection form.
School ranking option: Data displays as selected by the LEA in the Title I, Part A School Student Counts data collection form and impacts the order in which schools are displayed in this data collection form.
LEA-wide low income percent: Data is calculated based on school enrollment and eligible low income students counts entered by LEA in the Title I, Part A School Student Counts data collection form.
Available Title I, Part A school allocations: Data displays as calculated in the Title I, Part A LEA Allocation and Reservations data collection form.
Available parent and family engagement reservation: Data displays as reserved by the LEA in the Title I, Part A LEA Allocation and Reservations data collection form.
Displayed Data - School Details
School name and School code: Source data from the CDE County-District-School database, as reflected in the California School Directory web-based application.
Grade span group, Student enrollment, and Eligible low income students: Data displays as entered by the LEA in the Title I, Part A School Student Counts data collection form.
Low income student percent: Data is calculated as the school eligible low income students count divided by school enrollment.
Eligible to be served: A school is flagged as eligible if the school’s low income percent is equal to or greater than the LEA-wide low income percent, or if the school is grade span group 3 with a low income percent equal to or greater than 50 percent. Note: If an LEA meets the small LEA criteria noted in the Small LEA Exemptions section above, the field will display an asterisk (*).
Required to be served: A school is flagged as required if the LEA-wide low income percent is 75 or less and the school’s low income percent is greater than 75 percent, or if the LEA-wide low income percent is greater than 75 and the school’s low income percent is equal or greater than the LEA-wide low income percent. Note: If an LEA meets the small LEA criteria noted in the Small LEA Exemptions section above, the field will display an asterisk (*).
Ranking: Ranking order based on the low income student percent.
Procedures - Per Student Amount
| Step | Action | Program Instructions |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Enter the $ Per Low Income Student amount. | Default value: 0.00. An LEA has discretion to set this amount as long as higher poverty schools do not receive a per student amount that is lower than a lower ranked school. The amount per student must provide a level of funding in a school budget sufficient to implement an effective Title I, Part A (TIA) program. |
Displayed Data - TIA School Allocation
TIA school allocation: The dollar per low income student amount multiplied by eligible low income students count.
Procedures - School Carryover and Parent and Family Engagement Amount
| Step | Action | Program Instructions |
|---|---|---|
| 2 | Enter a 2023–24 Carryover amount allocated to each school. | Optional field. The school must have a dollar per low income student amount allocated in order to allocate carryover. |
| 3 | Enter the amount of funds allocated to each school for Parent and Family Engagement services. | Optional field. The school must have a dollar per low income student amount allocated in order to allocate a parent and family engagement amount. |
Displayed Data - Total School Allocation
Total school allocation: The (dollar per low income student amount multiplied by eligible low income students count) plus carryover amount plus parent and family engagement amount.
Procedures - Discretion Code
| Step | Action | Program Instructions |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | If an exception to funding is needed, then enter a valid Discretion Code. | Discretion codes must be lower case. Reminder: Discretion codes are only needed for schools that would be otherwise ineligible for funding. Single school LEAs and LEAs with fewer than 1,000 enrollment do not need to enter a discretion code to fund any school. |
Notes on rank-and-serve and use of the discretion codes:
- If
an LEA meets small LEA criteria, then ranking is not enforced; thus, no discretion codes are needed.
- A
school with a low income percent greater than 75 percent when the LEA-wide low income percent is 75 or less must be served.
- A
school with a low income percent equal to or greater than the LEA-wide low income percent when the LEA-wide low income percent is greater than 75 percent must be served.
- The
LEA may elect to provide funding to schools with a low income percent below the LEA-wide low income percent but above the minimum 35 percent requirement, as long as eligible schools with higher percentages have been served. In this case, use discretion code “a: Below LEA average and at or above 35% student low income.”
- Any time an LEA serves any school with low income percentage below 35 percent, then the $ Per Low Income Student amount for all funded eligible schools should be at least 125% of the total LEA Allocation per eligible low income student.
- The LEA may serve a school, not eligible under current ranking, for one additional year if that school was served in the preceding fiscal year; use discretion code “e: grandfather provision.” Such a school must have been served in the prior fiscal year, but discretion code “e” may not have been used in the prior year. In other words, Discretion Code “e” cannot be used in consecutive years.
Displayed Data - LEA Summary
Unallocated school amount: The available Title I, Part A school allocation minus the sum of all TIA school allocation amounts. Note: If the amount is in parentheses, then it is a negative value (less than zero). The unallocated amount cannot be less than zero or greater than half a percent of available Title I Part A school allocations. Please note this amount does not include any carryover amounts.
Note: The prior year carryover amount displayed is not sub-totaled on this form.
Unallocated parent and family engagement amount: The available school parent and family engagement reservation minus the sum of all parent and family engagement school amounts. Note: If the amount is in parentheses, then it is a negative value (less than zero). The unallocated amount must equal zero.
Displayed Data - Equitable Services Proportional Share
This section is used to validate the equitable services proportional share for participating nonprofit private schools. Note: It will only display if the LEA has one or more participating nonprofit private schools.
Total participating public and nonprofit private school low income students count: This count is the student count entered in the Title I, Part A Nonprofit Private School Equitable Services Reservations data collection form. If the amount needs to be revised, then the LEA should make the change in Title I, Part A Nonprofit Private School Equitable Services Reservations form.
Sum of Title I served public schools low income students count: The total number of public low income student counts for schools with a per student amount greater than zero.
Sum of participating nonprofit private school low income students count: The sum of nonprofit private school low income counts as entered in the Title I, Part A Nonprofit Private School Low Income Count form.
The sum of Title I served public schools low income students count plus the sum of participating nonprofit private school low income students count minus the total participating public and nonprofit private school low income students count: The value is calculated using the preceding fields. Note: If the amount is in parentheses, then it is a negative value (less than zero). The difference must equal zero.
Optional Function
Download schools template: Select t this option to download school data from the data collection form into an Excel (.xls) spreadsheet.
Choose file / Upload schools file: Select this option to upload school data from an Excel (.xls) spreadsheet into the data collection form.
Note: This optional function to work offline in a spreadsheet, rather than manually entering data directly into the data collection form, may be useful if a district has more schools than can display in a single view of the data collection form on-screen.
Error Messages
| Field Name | Error Message | Resolution |
|---|---|---|
| Discretion Code | School: [School Name] is not eligible to be served without a valid discretion code. | Either the funding must be removed, or a valid discretion code entered. |
| Unallocated School Amount | The unallocated school amount cannot be less than 0 or greater than 0.5% of available allocation. Allowing for rounding, all Title I, Part A school allocations must be allocated. | Adjust either $ Per Low Income Student, Carryover or LEA reservations. |
| Unallocated Parent and Family Engagement Amount | The unallocated amount for parent and family engagement does not equal zero. All parent and family engagement reservations must be allocated to the schools. | The unallocated amount must equal zero. |
| Not field name specific | The sum of all school level carryover dollars cannot exceed the September 30 carryover amount or the allowable carryover amount, whichever is less. | Reduce the schools carryover amount as needed. |
| Carryover | School: [School Name] does not have a per student rate, school carryover amount cannot be greater than zero. | Either add a school per student dollar amount or remove the school carryover amount. |
| Parent and Family Engagement Amount | School: [School Name] does not have a per student rate, Parent and Family Engagement amount cannot be greater than zero. | Either add a school per student dollar amount or remove the school Parent and Family Engagement amount. |
| $ Per Low Income Student Amount | School: [School Name] has a low income percent below 35% and the LEA is choosing to serve this school, then the 125% allocation rule shall be applied. | Adjust the school $ per low income student amount as needed. |
| Discretion Code | School: [School Name] has an invalid discretion code. | School does not meet the criteria for the discretion code entered. |
| Discretion Code | School: [School Name] is not in grade span 2 or 3. Discretion Code “f: Feeder pattern” only applies to grade span 2 or 3 schools. | School does not meet the criteria for the discretion code entered. |
| Discretion Code | School: [School Name] did not receive a prior year allocation, or the discretion code was used in the prior year. Discretion Code “e: Grandfather provision” is not a valid discretion code. | School does not meet the criteria for the discretion code entered. |
| Not field name specific | School: [School Name] has a per student rate higher than a school with a higher low income percent. | Adjust the school $ Per Low Income Student amount as needed. |
| Total School Allocation | School: [School Name] Low Income Student Count is zero, Total School Allocation cannot be greater than zero. | Remove all school allocations. |
| Difference Between Participating Attendance Area Low Income Student Count | The difference between the total participating public and nonprofit private school low income students counts must equal zero. | Adjust the total participating public and nonprofit private school low income students count entered on Title I, Part A Nonprofit Private School Equitable Services Reservations form, as needed. |
| Not field name specific | The available Title I, Part A school allocation amount is greater than zero, at least one school must be served. | Fund at least one school. |
| $ Per Low Income Student Amount | School: [School Name] must be served. | Enter a dollar per student amount. |
| Total School Allocation | School: [School Name] Title I, Part A school allocation and total school allocation amounts must be recalculated. A change has occurred to the school’s low income student count. To recalculate this value and resolve this error, save this submission again. | To recalculate this value and resolve this error, return to Title I, Part A School Allocations form, then save it again. |
| Discretion Code | School: [School Name] is served using Discretion Code "f: Feeder pattern", CDE may verify the accuracy of the feeder pattern poverty percentage. | Note only. |
| $ Per Low Income Student Amount | School: [School Name] has a per student rate higher than an eligible grade span 3 school with a higher low income percent. | A higher ranked grade span 3 school has been skipped and must be funded in order to fund this school. |
| Not field name specific | Prior year Title I, Part A LEA Carryover must be certified before this submission | Certification dependency. Certify the referenced form before or at the same time as this data collection. |