Sequestration and Education | Video

Chris Williams | 3/1/2013

According to NBCNews.com, President Obama has signed an order that will enact spending March 1 at 11:59 pm. Education is one of many things that will lose funding. Title One is a federal grant given to schools across the country. It`s used to give students extra assistance in reading and math.

Title One Funding is given to school districts based on few different factors, one being the free and reduced count from last October.

"This past year our free and reduced count has decreased by 10 percent, so that`s going to give us less title 1 money then we had in the past. Then with the sequestration of about five percent we`re looking at about a 90,000 dollar, approximately, decrease in funding for next year, in title 1," said District One Asst. Superintendent Pamela Lambert.

That would not take place until the new fiscal year, which starts on July 1st of this year. Lambert says District 1 has been conservative with Title One money in recent years.

"What we`ve cut back on over the years is, in Title One, is material and supplies and those kinds of things so we can keep our money where we need it most, and where it has the most effect, which is in that teacher salary."

So even with an estimated $90,000 being cut from District 1`s Title One budget, Lambert doesn`t for see any teachers being let go. However, the loss could make things difficult moving forward.

"If we had more money," said Lambert. Now that we have more kids we would like to add more Title One teachers, but I don`t for see that happening that we`d be adding more staff in that particular area."

District 1 after school programs also receive federal funding. Their current grant lasts through June. However, those programs might see some cuts, when June rolls around.

"That might be cut $50,000 or $60,000, we don’t really know for sure. In that case we would probably increase fees for people, or maybe cut down on the number of students who could be served," Lambert added.

School districts won`t know the exact amount of cuts until they receive statewide amounts from the U.S Department of Education.

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