SILVER SPRING, Md. — Kids at Viers Mill Elementary School in Montgomery County staged a walk out Friday as they tired to save the positions of four beloved teachers who appear to be on the chopping block.
The pending cuts are fall out from changes to the federal anti-poverty education policy called Title 1.
Four schools in Montgomery County are losing their federal funding and Title 1 status.
"We're making history," said 4th grader Kallie Williams as she talked to reporters outside the school.
Classmate Beatrix Padilla explained the impact on her.
“I just really like my reading and math teachers. If we lose Title 1, I wont have them as my math teacher and I'm really sad about that," Beatrix said.
The Title 1 formula for determining the level of poverty in schools has changed since COVID and Viers Mill is among the schools that no longer qualify, school authorities explained.
The result is the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year to each individual school that is used to fund extra positions, programs and free lunches.
The push back from parents and kids is having an effect.
School authorities said Friday they aim to preserve at least one additional teaching position at affected schools and are looking for ways to keep the extra programs running, even without the federal money.
While four Montgomery County Public Schools – Viers Mill, Oak View, Brookhaven and Strathmore – are losing Title 1 status, six others will be gaining it, according to the federal formula.
The following six schools will gain Title 1 status in FY25 based on the level of poverty among the families they serve.
- East Silver Spring ES – poverty data increased from 61.79% to 80.15%
- S. Christa McAuliffe ES – poverty data increased from, 67.50% to 75.29%
- Waters Landing ES – poverty data increased from 62.82% to 73.98%
- Benjamin Banneker MS – poverty data increased from 67.99% to 72.37%
- Meadow Hall ES – poverty data increased from 63.75% to 67.11%
- Strawberry Knoll ES – poverty data increased from 62.60% to 67.23%