The current system of allocating Title I funds to our neediest children simply is not fair. When the law was enacted 44 years ago, the hope was that Title I would level the educational playing field for our country's neediest schoolchildren. Today, the way our government distributes these funds means that disadvantaged students in some states receive hundreds of dollars less than those in other states.

The Education Trust supports changing the Title I funding formula to "raise the floor" for disadvantaged kids across America. The plan is simple. After accounting for differences in the cost of education and poverty both within and among states, our plan would provide most states with a new Title I "funding floor" per poor child of $2,013 by 2013.