200.78—Allocation of funds to school attendance areas and schools.
(a)
(1)
An LEA must allocate funds under subpart A of this part to school attendance areas and schools, identified as eligible and selected to participate under section 1113(a) or (b) of the ESEA, in rank order on the basis of the total number of children from low-income families in each area or school.
(2)
(i)
In calculating the total number of children from low-income families, the LEA must include children from low-income families who attend private schools.
(B)
(1) Use comparable poverty data from a survey of families of private school students that, to the extent possible, protects the families' identity; and
(2) Extrapolate data from the survey based on a representative sample if complete actual data are unavailable;
(D)
Apply the low-income percentage of each participating public school attendance area to the number of private school children who reside in that school attendance area; or
(E)
Use an equated measure of low income correlated with the measure of low income used to count public school children.
(iii)
An LEA may count private school children from low-income families every year or every two years.
(iv)
After timely and meaningful consultation in accordance with § 200.63, the LEA shall have the final authority in determining the method used to calculate the number of private school children from low-income families;
(3)
If an LEA ranks its school attendance areas and schools by grade span groupings, the LEA may determine the percentage of children from low-income families in the LEA as a whole or for each grade span grouping.
(b)
(1)
Except as provided in paragraphs (b)(2) and (d) of this section, an LEA must allocate to each participating school attendance area or school an amount for each low-income child that is at least 125 percent of the per-pupil amount of funds the LEA received for that year under part A, subpart 2 of Title I. The LEA must calculate this per-pupil amount before it reserves funds under § 200.77, using the poverty measure selected by the LEA under section 1113(a)(5) of the ESEA.
(2)
If an LEA is serving only school attendance areas or schools in which the percentage of children from low-income families is 35 percent or more, the LEA is not required to allocate a per-pupil amount of at least 125 percent.
(c)
An LEA is not required to allocate the same per-pupil amount to each participating school attendance area or school provided the LEA allocates higher per-pupil amounts to areas or schools with higher concentrations of poverty than to areas or schools with lower concentrations of poverty.
(d)
An LEA may reduce the amount of funds allocated under this section to a school attendance area or school if the area or school is spending supplemental State or local funds for programs that meet the requirements in § 200.79(b).
(e)
If an LEA contains two or more counties in their entirety, the LEA must distribute to schools within each county a share of the LEA's total grant that is no less than the county's share of the child count used to calculate the LEA's grant.