New Census Estimates Affecting FY10 Title I for 2007 Income Year

The State Board of Education has been notified by the U.S. Department of Education of the release of Small Area Income and Poverty ESTIMATES (SAIPE) for income year 2007.  These estimates will be used to calculate FY10 Title I Allocations.  A file of 2007 Poverty Data, by Local Education Agency (LEA) is provided in an alphabetical listing of LEAs, Poverty Count, 5-17 Population, Poverty Percentage and Total Population online at: Illinois Census 2007 with Poverty %

With this data, LEAs can determine their potential eligibility for Basic, Concentration, Targeted and Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG).  To be eligible for a Basic Grant, an LEA must have at least 10 poverty children and the number of poverty children must be greater than 2 percent of the LEA population of children ages 5-17.  To be eligible for a Concentration Grant, an LEA must have at least 6,500 poverty children or the number of those children exceeds 15% of the total 5-17 population.  To qualify for Targeted and EFIG grants, an LEA must have at least 10 poverty children and that number must be at least 5 percent of the 5-17 population.

The following link to the Census Bureau, www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/index.html, provides a site explaining various aspects of the SAIPE count.  We will be using the 2007 data to calculate SY 2009-10 Title I, Part A allocations because they are the most recent available data.  Note that with the 2007 data the Census Bureau has made the LEA data more current by reducing to two years the time lag between the time of the data and when they become available for use in calculating Title I allocations. 

Superintendents, Business Managers, and Title I Directors should carefully examine the data for their LEA as this will be the first indication as to whether your LEA may be gaining or losing in eligibility for Title I funds in FY10.  The Illinois State Board of Education neither controls nor generates the data.

Note that this preliminary data does not include other non-census data, such as foster, neglected, or delinquent counts which may be used to calculate Title I allocations.

Also, FY09 nationwide Title I allocations were revised in October, and Illinois received an additional $169,748.  Due to final allocations already provided to our LEAs at the time of the release of additional funds, we will provide the additional portion of this FY09 allocation with the final FY10 allocations this fall.  As we stated in our October 14th Weekly Message, many LEAs will not be affected by this small increase and for those who are, the increase will be minimal.

If you have questions on the information provided in this message, please contact Sally Cray or Kim Lewis in the Division of Funding and Disbursement Services at 217-782-5256.