THOMASVILLE, Ga. — Four of the five Thomasville City Schools receive state funding to go toward academic achievement.

Title I is a federal program created by the U.S. Department of Education to distribute funding to schools and its district with a high percentage of students with low-income families.

Title I funding is “all about academic achievement,” said Julia Bailey, Thomasville City Schools director of federal programs.

For a school to receive Title I funding, Bailey noted, a school must have more than 40 percent of its students from low-income families, based on a school’s free and reduced lunch count. The number of students, called per-pupil amount, in poverty also is factored into fund allocation.

Funds dispersed in the city schools is based on a ranking order, Bailey said.

The ranking order and this year’s allocations are:

•Harper Elementary — $300,096

•Scott Elementary — $214,969

•MacIntyre Park Middle School — $273,000

•Thomasville High School — $254,400

“The school with the highest poverty rate gets the highest allocation,” Bailey said.

Fund allocation to each school also is based on what each school and its principal has designated in the school’s improvement plan.

Bailey also noted funds to the schools are determined by “looking at everything they need to make a viable program.” Another stipulation to Title I funding is the funds have to be used for purchases that are research and evidence-based, Bailey said.

“It has to be something the district has not been able to fund before,” she added.

Funding also is allocated at the district level. According to Bailey, there are 20 positions within the Thomasville City Schools funded through Title I.

According to Bailey, while the schools’ allocation amounts are approved, final approval is still pending from the state.

For more information, visit www.tcitys.org/title-i-aii-avi-b.

Reporter Jordan Barela can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 1826.