Federal Programs / Title I
Our mission is to provide technical assistance, resources, and program monitoring for the Stewart County School District in order to ensure that all students have an opportunity to receive a high quality education and achieve proficiency on the Georgia Standards of Excellence.
Also, the Federal Programs Department ensures that federal funds are used to provide a a high-quality education to all students.
Stewart County is classified as a School-wide Title I School. Therefore, additional funding is available to allow the schools and the district to offer additional services to help meet the needs of the students that are not provided by the local and/or state funds. These services include, but are not limited to: additional instructional resources, technological resources, professional learning for staff, and parent engagement activities.
TITLE I
Title I, Part A is a multi-faceted federal entitlement program designed to "help all children have the opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state and academic standards and assessments."
Title I is also designed to "enable schools to provide opportunities for at-risk and disadvantaged children to receive the knowledge and skills contained in the challenging State content standards and to meet the challenging State performance standards developed for all children." Title I is intended to serve students in core academic subject areas: Reading /Language Arts/ English, Math, and Science and Social Studies.
Return to In-Person Plan Information
Districts are required to seek community input on its Return to In-Person Plan. Funds will be spent to support a safe return to school for students and staff. Review the District's Return to In-Person Plan below. You can provide input for any or all items by completing our Input/Survey that is located below or by selecting the following hyperlink:
ESSER Feedback Survey Link https://www.surveymonkey.com/
Return to In-Person Plan
2023-24 Updates to the Return to In-Person Plan (links below) *
Road Map to Return to School (updated 8_23)
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act ESSER III-LEA Application *
Stewart County COVID Plan for Parents (updated 8_23)
Infectious Disease & Pandemic Procedures (Updated 8_23)
Additional information about Infectious Diseases
*These documents have been updated or reviewed for the start of the 2023-24 school year. These documents will be reviewed and updated as needed.
Markus Taylor
Federal Programs Director
229-838-4301
School Compacts
ABOUT FEDERAL PROGRAMS
On Jan. 8, 2002, President Bush signed into law the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This new law represents his education reform plan and contains the most sweeping changes to the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Section 1116a (2).
Right to Know
Parent's Right to Request a Teacher's and a Paraprofessional's Qualifications:
By law, LEAs are required to notify parents that they may request information regarding the teacher's or the paraprofessional's professional qualifications, including the following:
- Whether the student’s teacher has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade
levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction - Whether the teacher is teaching under an emergency or other provisional status through which Georgia qualifications or certification criteria have been waived
- Whether the teacher is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher
- Whether the student is provided services by paraprofessionals and if so, their qualification
Stewart County School District Data
Below are the specific links containing your School District/Schools' report cards:
District School Report 2021-22 (*updated 8/14/23)
Stewart County High School Report 2021-22 (*updated 8/14/23)
Stewart County Middle School Report 2021-22 (*updated 8/14/23)
Stewart County Elementary School Report 2021-22 (*updated 8/14/23)
LEAs that receive Title I, Part A funds are required to place their districts Annual Report Card and each of their school's Annual Report Card on their websites. Below is a copy of ESEA Section 1111(h)(2) with the specifics of this requirement.
(2) ANNUAL LOCAL EDUCATIONAL AGENCY REPORT CARDS-
(A) PREPARTAION AND DISSEMINATION- A local educational agency that receives assistance under this part [Title I, Part A] shall prepare and disseminate an annual local educational agency report card that includes information on such agency as a whole and each school served by the agency.
(B) IMPLEMENTATION-Each local educational agency report card shall be:
(i) concise;
(ii)presented in an understandable and uniform format, and to the extent practicable, in a language that parents can understand; and
(iii) accessible to the public, which shall include:
(I) placing such report card on the website of the local educational agency; and
(II) in any case which a local educational agency does not operate a website, providing the information to the public in another manner determined by the local educational agency.
In Georgia, the Governor's Office of Student Achievement (GOSA) prepares Georgia's State, LEA, and School Annual Report Cards and posts them on their website (https://gosa.georgia.gov and at https://schoolgrades.georgia.gov). However, to assist LEAs in meeting this ESEA requirement under Title I, GOSA has graciously put together a specific URL link for each LEA. Each LEA's URL link includes the LEA report card and the report card of each School within that LEA. Therefore, if the LEA posts this URL link on their district's website and on each school's website, they will have met this requirement. Title I would like to thank Jackie Lundberg and Jordan Dasher of GOSA for developing these URLs
American Rescue Plan -ESSER III
The American Rescue Plan (ARP) ACT was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to speed up the United States recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. ARPA makes available $122.8 billion nationally in the third round of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP-ESSER) funds.
It is with the same sense of urgency that State educational agencies (SEAs) and school districts should plan to expend these funds to safely reopen schools as expeditiously as possible this spring, sustain their healthy operations, and address the significant academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of their students.
As a part of the ARP ESSER III, school systems are required to create a plan for spending the federal funds aligned to the allowable use of funds from the state and federal levels. Stewart County School District has received a total allocation of over $1.4 million. Stewart County School District plans to use the ARP ESSER III Funds in the following ways. All expenditures within the budget are subject to approval at the locals and state levels. If you would like to provide feedback, you may send an email taylorm@stewart.k12.ga.us. If you would like to provide feedback, you may send an email to taylorm@stewart.12,ga.us
ARP ESSER funds will allow SEA to take additional steps to safely reopen schools for in-person instruction and keep them open, to address the disruptions to teaching and learning resulting from the pandemic. This includes using funds to enact appropriate measures to help schools to invest in mitigation strategies consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDS) Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools to the greatest extent practicable; address the many impacts of COVID-19 on students, including from interrupted instruction: implement strategies to meet student' social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs; offer crucial summer, after school, and other extended learning and enrichment programs; support early childhood education; invest in staff capacity, and avoid devastating layoffs at this critical moment, ensuring that all students have access to teachers, counselors, and other school personnel to support their needs.
The purpose of this grant is to provide school districts with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on public elementary and secondary schools across Georgia and the nation.
Districts are required to seek community input on how these funds will be spent to support students. Stewart County School District is prioritizing the use of ARP funds to support the District's strategic priorities in the following areas:
- After school learning opportunities
- Summer learning opportunities
- Teachers to work specifically with students needing extra assistance
- Improving teacher ability to use technology in their instruction
- Purchasing of technology computers and devices
- Purchasing instructional software
- Providing mobile hotspots (internet connectivity) for low-income students
- Providing professional development related to the system strategic plan
- Providing faculty, staff, and students with social-emotional learning support
- Hiring additional staff to support at-risk students
- Providing additional supports for all students
- Ensuring that buildings and other items used by faculty, staff, and students are clean and sanitized
- Completing facility upgrades that will contribute to and improve air quality
Return to In-Person Plan Information:
Return to In-Person Plan
2022 Updates to the Return to In-Person Plan (links below) *
Road Map to Return to School (updated 8_23_)
American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act ESSER III-LEA Application
Stewart County COVID Plan for Parents (updated 8_23)
Infectious Disease & Pandemic Procedures Updated (August 2023)
*These documents have been updated or reviewed for the start of the 2022-23 school year. These documents will be reviewed and updated as needed.
Title I Information
Title I-Part-A - Improving the Academic Achievement of the Disadvantaged
The purpose of Title I Part-A (the largest program) is to ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education and reach proficiency on challenging state academic standards and assessments.
Title I is a part of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB). This act provides federal funds through the Georgia Department of Education to local educational agencies (LEAs) and public schools with high numbers or percentages of poor children to help ensure that all children meet challenging State academic content and student academic achievement standards.
LEAs target the Title I funds they receive to public schools with the highest percentages of children from low-income families. These funds may be used for children from preschool aged to high school. Title I is designed to support State and local school reform efforts tied to challenging State academic standards in order to reinforce and enhance efforts to improve teaching and learning for students. Title I programs must be based on effective means of improving student achievement and include strategies to support parental involvement.
Under Title I, local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to provide services for eligible private school students, as well as eligible public school students. These services must be developed in consultation with officials of the private schools. The Title I services provided by the LEA for private school participants are designed to meet their educational needs and supplement the educational services provided by the private school.
Title I-Part-A - School Improvement
Purpose of School Improvement Grants: The Title I, Part A, Section 1003(a) school improvement grants provide financial resources to local educational agencies (LEA) on behalf of Title I schools identified as Alert, Focus, or Priority. Grants are awarded to support implementation of school improvement plans required by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and Georgia's ESEA Flexibility Waiver approved by the United States Department of Education.
Title I, Part A Public School Choice
In November, 2011, the Georgia Department of Education (GaDOE) submitted to the U. S. Department of Education (US ED) an application requesting flexibility through waivers of ten Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA) requirements and their associated, regulatory, administrative and reporting requirements. One of the ten requested waivers directly affected Public School Choice (Choice). Beginning in the 2012-2013 school year those Title I schools that were required to offer Public School Choice (Choice) due to a NCLB school improvement status, the waiver allows those Title I schools to no longer be required to offer Choice under ESEA but rather follow Georgia’s Intradistrict Transfer option. Georgia’s Intradistrict Transfer (O.C.G.A. §20-2-2130, O.C.G.A. §20-2-2131) option allows parents of students enrolled in a public elementary or secondary school in Georgia to elect to enroll their student in a public school that is located within the school district in which the student resides other than the one to which the student has been assigned by the local board of education if such school has classroom space available after its assigned students have been enrolled. The parent shall assume the responsibility and cost of transportation of the student to and from the school. Each local school district establishes its own process (available to all students) to implement the transfer requirements of Georgia’s Intradistrict Transfer option.
Title II - Preparing, Training, and Recruiting High Quality Teachers and Principals
The purpose of Title II is to provide financial assistance for preparing, training, recruiting and retaining high quality teachers and principals. Funds provide professional activities, which enhance teacher skills and directly impact student learning.
Title IV Part-A - Student Supports and Academic Achievement
The purpose of Title IV-A is to provide financial assistance to support safe and drug free environment to ensure that all children have the opportunity to obtain a high quality education.
Title IV-B - 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC)
Title V-B Rural Education Initiative Grant
The purpose of Title V-B is to provide financial assistance to rural and low income students to meet challenging academic content and student performance standards.
You can check out more about the Federal Programs and Title 1 at the Georgia Department of Education web site: Georgia DOE Title 1 Information
Title X, Part A – McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth
The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program is designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, State educational agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth.
Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging State student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment.
States and districts are required to review and undertake steps to revise laws, regulations, practices, or policies that may act as a barrier to the enrollment, attendance, or success in school of homeless children and youth.
For more information on the rights of and services available to children and youth experiencing homelessness, please contact: School Building Homeless Liaison, Sharon Jones or District Homeless Liaison, Markus Taylor @ 229-838-4301 ext. 611
If you need further assistance, call the National Center for Homeless Education at the toll-free Help Line Number: 1-800-308-2145 or e-mail homeless@serve.org.
Click on the link for information on the Perkins V Legislation.
The Perkins V legislation, Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st. Century Act, provides states and local education agencies with a critical framework to center equity within Career and Technical Education (CTE) – the Comprehensive Local Needs Assessment (CLNA).