No. The free/reduced lunch rate, while reported to the New York State Education Department, does not factor into the amount of Title I funding that we receive. Instead, Federal Census Poverty Data is used to determine our Title I funds. Up until this point, we were unaware of this fact. This funding is based on data from two years prior.
Source(s): 

• Verified via phone and email communication with the NYSED Title I & Community Services Office on April 16, 2018.
• Verified with a representative from the Poverty Statistics Area of the US Census Bureau in an April 19, 2018 phone conversation.

If our free/reduced lunch rate does not influence the amount of Title I funding that we receive, what is it used for in regards to Title I?
The free/reduced lunch rate is used locally (within the district) when deciding how to allocate the funds. In the case of the 2017-18 school year, the highest percentage of students who received free/reduced lunch are at JFK Elementary School (41%) and CVS Intermediate School (35%). As a result, we designated those two schools as school-wide programs, allowing for these funds to be used for all students and teachers in grade K-5. 

• Verified via phone with the NYSED Title I School & Community Services Office on April 16, 2018.

No, Brewster is not designated as a ‘Title I District’. The NYS Title I & Community Services office has told us that no such designation exists.
Source: 

• Verified via phone with the NYSED Title I School & Community Services Office on April 13, 2018.
• Letter from NYSED

Over 99% of districts across New York State receive Title I funding. Those that do not receive funding have more to do with size than wealth or poverty. Only 13 of 962 public and charter districts/LEA’s do not receive Title I funds. Two of the 13 are public districts, and both are very small.
Source: 

• Email correspondence with NYSED Title I School & Community Services on April 18, 2018
• Letter from NYSED

Why does the Federal Census Poverty Rate (FCPR) not match the Free/Reduced Lunch Rate?
This is because these are two different ways of measuring poverty with two different ‘caps’. The FCPR is for any household that is less than 100% of the poverty rate. Under federal guidelines, households with income up to 130% of the poverty rate can qualify for free lunch, and households up to 185% can qualify for reduced lunch. The federal poverty threshold can be found here.

• Federal Poverty thresholds:
https://www.census.gov/data/tables/time-series/demo/income-poverty/historical-poverty-thresholds.html
• Income eligibility guidelines:
https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2017/04/10/2017-07043/child-nutrition-programs-income-eligibility-guidelines
• Email correspondence with the NYSED Title I & Community Services Office on April 16, 2018
• Phone conversation with a representative from the Poverty Statistics Area of the US Census Bureau in an April 19, 2018 phone conversation

If a district (or Lead Education Agency- LEA) receives Title I funding, which over 99% of districts do, the district needs to either choose ‘targeted assistance’ or ‘school-wide program’ when explaining to NYSED how they plan to use the funds. A main difference between the two is how the funds can be used. This document explains more. We have chosen the school-wide program at JFK & CVS for the 2017-18 school year.

No, we have been receiving Title I funds for many years. In fact, in the 2007-08 & 2008-09 school year we received as a LEA $450,000 each year. We received over $350,000 in Title I as a LEA for the 2017-18 school year. The two private schools in our boundaries, Green Chimneys and Longview, receive a portion of these funds based upon a formula determined by NYSED. Additionally, BCSD residents who attend private schools outside of our boundaries who qualify for free/reduced lunch also receive some of these funds.

Most of our Title I funds are spent on professional salaries, partially funding reading teachers across our four schools.