Title I Eligibility

There are 4 levels of Title I grants: Basic, Concentration, Targeted and Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG). Each level has eligibility criteria that the school, Local Educational Agency (LEA) and/or state must meet in order to qualify for the grant. The Title I funds are allocated through statutory formulas that are based primarily on census poverty estimates and the cost of education in each state.

Districts are encouraged to participate in the Annual School District Review Program (SDRP) to notify CDE of any changes to school district boundaries. School district boundary data are used to estimate the number of school-aged children, ages 5 through 17, in families in poverty for each financially responsible school district. These poverty estimates serve as the basis of Title I eligibility and are used to determine the distribution of Title I funding. Districts are encouraged to view their district boundaries online, using the TIGERweb application. To report an error in the district boundaries (applies to school district boundaries effective on or before January 1st of each year), districts should take a screenshot of the current boundaries using TIGERweb and then annotate the updated boundary location on the same screenshot. All requests to update school district boundaries should be submitted to Tina Negley (negley_t@cde.state.co.us) no later than December 15th of each year. In addition, districts should review the poverty and population estimates that the U.S. Census Bureau publishes each year, typically by February on the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program webpage, to verify the accuracy of the data.

Basic Grant

• An LEA must have at least 10 poverty children and;
• Poverty children must exceed 2 percent of the LEA's school age population (ages 5-17).

Concentration Grant

• An LEA must have at least 6,500 poverty children or;
• Poverty children must be greater than 15 percent of the LEA's school age population (ages 5-17).

Targeted Grant

• An LEA must have at least 10 poverty children and;
• Poverty children must be at least 5 percent of the LEA's school age population (ages 5-17).

Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG)

• A state must rank well in comparison to other states in its effort to provide financial support for education compared to its relative wealth as measured by its per capita income and;
• A state must rank well in comparison to other states in its degree to which education expenditures among LEAs within the state are equalized and;
• An LEA must have at least 10 poverty children and;
• Poverty children must be at least 5 percent of the LEA's school age population (ages 5-17) and;
• An LEA must target the Title I funds schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families and;
• Schools must focus Title I services on children who are failing, or most at risk of failing, to meet state academic standards (unless a school is operating a schoolwide program*).
• An LEA also must use Title I funds to provide academic enrichment services to eligible children enrolled in private schools.

*Schools in which poverty children make up at least 40 percent of enrollment are eligible to use Title I funds for schoolwide programs that serve all children in the school.

For Additional Information Contact:

Nazanin (Nazie) Mohajeri-Nelson
Executive Director, Federal Programs & Supports Unit
720-626-3895 (c)