Does our free/reduced lunch rate influence the amount of Title I funding that we receive?

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): 

• http://www.nysed.gov/essa/title-i-program-overview
• 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.