Rep. Thompson and Rep. Panetta Introduce ACE Act to Shift Federal School Funding to High-Poverty Districts
The ACE Act is currently in the early stages of the legislative process. It was recently sent to the House Committee on Education and Workforce for review. No further actions are scheduled at this time.
The bill has support from both parties, but it will face strong opposition from lawmakers representing large cities who would see their school funding decrease.
Students in smaller school districts with high poverty concentrations would see their schools receive more federal Title I funding per student. This means more resources for programs that help economically disadvantaged children in rural and smaller suburban districts where poverty rates are high but total student numbers are low.
“Congress has a responsibility to correct this unintended inequity by reducing the power of the number weighting system relative to the percentage weighting system so that local educational agencies with high percentages of poverty but low numbers of students are not disadvantaged under the formulas used for grants under this part.”
Referred to the House Committee on Education and Workforce.
Introduced in House
The bill was officially filed and given a number. It now enters the legislative queue.
No votes have been recorded for this legislation yet.
U.S. Representatives Glenn “GT” Thompson and Jimmy Panetta have introduced the All Children are Equal (ACE) Act to reform Title I funding. The bill seeks to eliminate the 'number weighting' system that favors large districts, instead using a percentage-based method to target high-poverty areas.
Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA) joined Rep. Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) to introduce the All Children Are Equal Act. The bill targets a 'perverse' formula that diverts Title I funds from high-poverty rural districts to more populous urban districts by relying on raw numbers rather than poverty percentages.
Document Type
Congressional Bill
Official Title
ACE Act
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