Title I, Part A Reservations

LEAs are required and allowed to reserve Title I, Part A funds, before allocating to schools, to ensure that all students receive a high-quality education and to close the achievement gap between students meeting the challenging State academic standards and those that are not meeting such standards.

Required Reservations

According to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), LEAs are required to reserve specific amounts of funds on identified programs as well as have the discretion to reserve additional Title I, Part A funds for other allowable activities. Under the ESSA, LEAs are required to reserve funds for (1) Parent and family engagement activities; (2) Students who are in homeless situations; and (3) Students who reside in local neglected and delinquent institutions.

Parent and Family Engagement Reservation

Under ESSA Section 1116(a)(3), an LEA with an allocation in excess of $500,000 must reserve at a minimum one percent of the LEA’s Title I, Part A entitlement of the fiscal year for the parent and family engagement activities.

School-Level: At a minimum, 90 percent of the one percent reserved must be distributed to schools for parent and family engagement activities.

LEA-Level: The LEA has the discretion to use the remaining 10 percent of the reserved funds for parent and family engagement activities at the LEA level or to include those funds in the distribution to schools.

LEAs are allowed to increase the reservations for parent and family engagement activities both at the school and LEA level. The “Title I, Part A LEA Allocation and Reservations” form in the Consolidated Application and Reporting System (CARS) is designed to accommodate for the flexibility.

If an LEA receives $500,000 or less in Title I, Part A allocations in a fiscal year, the LEA is not required to reserve any specific amount of Title I, Part A funds for parent and family engagement activities. However, the provisions for parent and family engagement under ESSA Section 1116 must still be implemented.

Additional information is available on the California Department of Education's (CDE's) Title I, Part A Parent and Family Engagement web page.

Homeless Services Reservation

LEAs must reserve Title I, Part A funds for homeless children and youths, including providing educationally related support services to children in shelters and other locations where children may live, that are necessary to provide services comparable to those services provided to students in non-Title I, Part A funded schools (ESSA Section 1113[c][3][A][i]).

To determine the amount of Title I, Part A funds to be reserved, LEAs shall base the decision on the total Title I, Part A allocation received by the LEA and prior to any allowable expenditures or transfers by the LEA (ESSA Section 1113[c][3][B]).

Additional information is available on the CDE's Resources for Homeless Children and Youths web page.

Neglected and Delinquent Reservation

LEAs that receive Title I, Part A funds must reserve funds for services to serve all children to ensure that they receive a high-quality education, and to close the achievement gap in meeting the challenging State academic standards. In general the nature of the programs to be conducted by the LEAs schools under sections 1114 and 1115 and where appropriate, educational services outside such schools for children living in local institutions for neglected or delinquent children, and for neglected and delinquent children in community day school programs (ESSA Section 1112[b][5]).

ESSA Section 1113(c)(3)(A)(ii-iii) states LEAs shall reserve funds as are necessary under this part, determined in accordance with subparagraphs (B) and (C), to provide services comparable to children in schools funded under this part to serve:

2. children in local institutions for neglected children; and
3. if appropriate, children in local institutions for delinquent children, and neglected or delinquent children in community day programs.

Additional information is available on the CDE's Title I, Part A Neglected and Delinquent Reservation web page.

Title I, Part A Authorized Reservations

Public School Choice

Beginning in the 2017–18 school year, with the enactment of the ESSA, the Public School Choice program under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act is no longer required. Although LEAs must allow students who previously transferred to another public school to remain in that school until they complete the highest grade offered in that school, LEAs are no longer required to reserve a reasonable amount of funds to pay for transportation, but are still allowed to do so.

Public School Choice under the ESSA is an optional program for schools identified for comprehensive support and improvement (CSI) and LEAs may reserve an amount equal to not more than 5 percent of its Title I, Part A allocation to pay for the provision of transportation for students who transfer to the public schools that are not identified for CSI (ESSA Section 1111[d][1][D][v]).

If an LEA decides to reserve funds for Public School Choice transportation costs, under either the NCLB or the ESSA, the LEA may do so in the "Authorized Reservations" section of the "Title I, Part A LEA Allocation and Reservations" form in the winter release of the CARS.

Additional information is available on the CDE's School Choice web page.

Districtwide Title I Initiatives

LEAs may reserve Title I, Part A funds to implement districtwide Title I initiatives pursuant to the ESSA, including but not limited to the ESSA sections 1111(d), 1112, 1113, 1116, and 1119. LEAs should consider the general criteria on the CDE Title I, Part A Authorized Use of Funds web page when approving activities or expenditures supported with Title I, Part A funds.

These districtwide initiatives are designed to improve the achievement of Title I students districtwide, to benefit all, or a group, of Title I schools in the district. LEAs may not use Title I, Part A funds to benefit students in non-Title I schools except such students who are homeless, neglected or delinquent, who may be attending non-Title I schools within the LEA (ESSA Section 1113[c][3][C]).

U.S. Department of Education Resources

Text of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 as reauthorized by the ESSA (January 28, 2020) (PDF)

Non-regulatory Guidance - LEA Identification and Selection of School Attendance Areas and Schools and Allocation of Title I Funds to Those Areas and Schools (DOC)