FY2018 State Grants Under Title I-A of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

Summary

The Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), most recently comprehensively amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA; P.L. 114-95), is the primary source of federal aid to K-12 education. The Title I-A program is the largest grant program authorized under the ESEA and was funded at $15.8 billion for FY2018. It is designed to provide supplementary educational and related services to low-achieving and other students attending elementary and secondary schools with relatively high concentrations of students from low-income families.

Under current law, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) determines Title I-A grants to local educational agencies (LEAs) based on four separate funding formulas: Basic Grants, Concentration Grants, Targeted Grants, and Education Finance Incentive Grants (EFIG). The four Title I-A formulas have somewhat distinct allocation patterns, providing varying shares of allocated funds to different types of states. Thus, for some states, certain formulas are more favorable than others.

This report provides FY2018 state grant amounts under each of the four formulas used to determine Title I-A grants. Overall, California received the largest FY2018 Title I-A grant amount ($2.0 billion, or 12.76% of total Title I-A grants). Wyoming received the smallest FY2018 Title I-A grant amount ($35.9 million, or 0.23% of total Title I-A grants).