Superintendent's Memo #309-09

State seal, Commonwealth of Virginia

COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA
Department of Education

November 6, 2009

TO: Division Superintendents

FROM: Patricia I. Wright, Superintendent of Public Instruction

SUBJECT: 2009-2010 Title I, Part A Comparability Report

To receive Title I, Part A funds, a school division must verify comparability of services for Title I and non-Title I schools as stipulated in Section 1120(A)(c) of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB).

As the result of guidance from the United States Department of Education (USED), two clarifications have been made to the comparability report calculations to ensure compliance with NCLB requirements.

The two clarifications are described below:

  1. Although Section 1113(b)(1)(D)(i-iii) allows divisions to elect not to serve an eligible school that has a higher percentage of low-income families than schools being served if the required conditions are met, the "skipped schools" must be included in the comparability calculations. If your division has "skipped schools", the schools will appear in the pre-populated list for purposes of calculating comparability.
  2. When preparing the comparability calculations for your division, only state and locally-funded building level staff members who provide direct instruction may be included in the calculations. Federally-funded staff members may not be included in the comparability calculations.

The 2009-2010 Title I Comparability Report will be available beginning November 6, 2009, at: https://p1pe.doe.virginia.gov/ssws/login.page.do Detailed instructions are provided with the Web-based report. The required data should be submitted through the Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS). Once the report has been completed, the division superintendent or designee must sign the verification form and fax it to Mrs. Helen Tucker, administrative support, at 804-371-7347 on or before December 18, 2009. A copy of this report with the original signature must be kept on file for audit.

For questions related to the mechanics of this report, please contact Becky Marable, Title I grants and reports manager, by e-mail at Rebecca.Marable@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at(804) 371-0044. For questions related to the programmatic aspects of this report, please contact Gabie Frazier, Title I specialist, by e-mail at Gabie.Frazier@doe.virginia.gov or by telephone at (804) 225-2907.

PIW/GF/ht