Changes to Low-Income Grant Qualifications Leave Questions for Montana Schools
February 27, 2020
According to an article in the Flathead Beacon, Montana education officials are raising concerns over how a proposed change by the U.S. Department of Education could impact local schools. The Department is proposing to change the way it determines qualification for rural low-income grants, basing it on “census data rather than the number of students who qualify for free and reduced-cost lunches.” The Department said “statutory language in the Every Student Succeeds Act required the use of census data.” The change could cost “as many as 220 Montana schools a total of $400,000.” Montana Senator Jon Tester said he “plans to introduce legislation to reverse the change in eligibility rules.”