TO: Chief State School Officers

SUBJECT: AN AMENDMENT TO THE FISCAL SECTION OF TITLE I WITH RESPECT TO SUPPLEMENT, NOT SUPPLANT AND COMPARABILITY DETERMINATIONS.

On April 26, 1996, the President signed the Omnibus Consolidated Rescissions and Appropriations Act of 1996, P.L. 104-134. Included in this Act were technical amendments to the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, including one that amended section 1120A of Title I (20 U.S.C. 6322). A copy of this amendment is attached for your information.

Section 1120A of Title I contains fiscal requirements concerning maintenance of effort, supplement, not supplant, and comparability of services. Paragraph (b)(1) of that section previously permitted a State or local educational agency to exclude, from supplement, not supplant determinations, only supplemental State and local funds spent in any eligible school attendance area or school for programs that meet the requirements of section 1114 or 1115. Section 200.63(c) of the Title I regulations sets out criteria to determine whether a program meets the requirements of section 1114 or 1115. Section 1120A previously contained no similar exclusion for comparability determinations. Public Law No. 104-134 amends section 1120A by deleting paragraph (b)(1) and adding the following paragraph (d):

’(d) EXCLUSION OF FUNDS.--For the purpose of complying with subsections (b) and (c), a State or local educational agency may exclude supplemental State or local funds expended in any school attendance area or school for programs that meet the intent and purposes of the part.’

In other words, this amendment now allows a State or local educational agency to exclude supplemental State and local funds that are expended in any school attendance area or school from both supplement, not supplant and comparability determinations, as long as the expenditures are for programs that meet the intent and purposes of Part A.

Until the Department determines whether new or revised regulatory provisions are needed to implement the amendment, a State or local educational agency may use the criteria in §200.63(c) to determine whether a state or local program meets the intent and purposes of Part A in order to exclude supplemental funds spent of that program from Title I supplement, not supplant and comparability determinations.

Gerald N. Tirozzi

Attachment

cc: State Title I Coordinators
     Comprehensive Centers
     Education Associations