Title I History

Back to Title I

In the beginning

Palms first qualified for Title I funding in the 2005-2006 school year, with 47% of students shown to be eligible for free or reduced-price meals. The percentage has been over 40% ever since.

The October Surprise

In Fall 2011, not all qualified Palms families applied, yet the 49.4% of students from families who did submit applications easily exceeded the 40% threshold set by LAUSD. But LAUSD then raised the funding threshold to 50% after the application period had ended, leaving Palms and 22 other LAUSD schools unable to prove they still qualified for funding. A partial one-time allocation made up for a portion of the lost funding but long-standing Palms programs, including tutoring and our after-school sports programs, still had to be cut that year.

Since then

The dotted line in this chart shows the LAUSD funding threshold and Palms percentages from 2004 to 2019, including the after-the-fact switch in 2011.

Lesson learned

Based on the October Surprise, Palms has made a more extensive effort since Fall 2012 to let parents know about the importance of submitting applications. As a result, Palms has qualified with over 50% eligible families each year since. Getting the word out to parents is still of vital importance, and that's why you should submit a Meal Application whether or not you think your family qualifies for free or reduced-price meals.