As part of ESEA, Title I, the program for institutionalized neglected or delinquent children responds to the larger program's goals as stated in P.L. 89-10; that is, to

"improve educational programs by various means (including
preschool programs) which contribute particularly to
meeting the special educational needs of educationally
deprived children."

(Section 101 of P.L. 89-10).

1/ Section 144 of ESEA, Title I requires that grants for the Stateoperated program for the neglected or delinquent (as well as those for State programs for the handicapped and for migrant children) be awarded as authorized. This is referred to as "off-the-top funding" or being "fully funded," in contrast to LEA grants that are reduced as necessitated by appropriations. 2/ Beginning in 1973, unlike the previous years, funds were authorized and appropriated to serve children in adult correctional institutions. About $6.8 million of the $7.3 million overall increase between 1972 and 1973 is attributable to the addition of that population.

The amendments in P.L. 89-750 passed on November 3, 1966, which added institutionalized neglected or delinquent youth (as well as children of migratory agricultural workers and Indian children in B.I.A. schools) to those eligible under P.L. 89-10, stated goals for these subprograms. With respect to the neglected or delinquent children, the law states that the funds must be used "only for programs and projects (including the acquisition of equipment and where necessary the construction of school facilities) which are designed to meet the special educational needs of such children." (Section 123 (c) of P.L. 89-10 as amended, underlining added)

Specifically, in applying for Title I funds, a State agency must demonstrate that the proposed project has "reasonable promise of substantial progress toward meeting the special educational needs of the children to be served." (Federal Register, April 4, 1978, p. 14296).

Program Operations:

The Title I program for children in institutions for neglected or delinquent youth or in adult corrections facilities is administered by USOE, State education agencies, the State agency

responsible for educating children in institutions, and institution education personnel. Such institutions whose children are eligible to receive services are defined as follows:

(1) "An institution for neglected children means a
facility (other than a foster home) which is
operated for the care of children who are in
the custody of a public agency as the result
of a determination of neglect under State law,
and which has an average length of stay of at
least 30 days."

(2) "An institution for delinquent children means a
facility which is operated for the care of
children who are in the custody of a public
agency as a result of a determination under
State law that they are either (a) delinquent
or (b) in need of treatment or supervision
after being charged with a violation of State
law, and which has an average length of stay
of at least 30 days."

(3)

"Adult correctional institution means a facility
in which persons are confined as a result of a
conviction of a criminal offense, including persons
under 21 years of age." (Federal Register,
April 4, 1978, pp. 14294,5).

Title I grants are made to State agencies responsible for the education of children in institutions they operate or support. Each such agency is, then, a Title I grantee. Its grant is based on the average daily attendance of children receiving free public education for at least 5 hours per week in the institutions administered by that agency. The size of the grant is stipulated in section 123(b) of the legislation to be that average daily attendance figure multiplied by 40% of the State's average per pupil expenditure (or to be no less than 80% of the U.S. average per pupil expenditure and no more than 120% of the U.S. average). (Further, Section 125 of the same legislation states that no State agency shall receive less than 100% of what it received the previous year.)

A recently completed descriptive study of State institutions receiving Title I funds has documented the numbers of children served, the nature of those services, the management of the program at the institution and State levels, and the flow of funds among the administrative levels. The study, a preliminary phase of the impact study described briefly under "Ongoing and Planned Evaluation Studies," as performed by System Development Corporation and involved visits to 100 randomly selected institutions and interviews with students, teachers, and

(Figures in parentheses reflect funds used for administration.)

administrators in those sites. Interviews were also con-
ducted with Title I administrators responsible for the
N or D program in all States (as well as in Puerto Rico
and the District of Columbia) including those in both the
State Education Agency (SEA) and in the State Applicant
Agency 3/ (SAA; e.g., the Department of Corrections,
Youth Authority, etc.).

The funding of this program can be decribed in two ways: in terms of its flow from USOE to SEA to SAA to institution and in terms of its uses in the institutions to provide Title I services to participating students. Figure 1 illustrates the flow of Title I N or D dollars to institutions. On the average. the SAA's retain about 2% for administration. Facilities for delinquent youth then receive about 64% of a State's appropriation; those for adult offenders, about 20%; and those for neglected children about 9%. These figures are very similar to those for the distribution of State funds across agencies, although typically larger portions of State funds are retained for administrative uses.

Funds are available at the State level for education in institutions for neglected youth, delinquents, or adult offenders and average about $2.1 million per State, ranging from about $17,000 to over $10 million. On the average, approximately 68% of these funds are from the State, 20% from ESEA Title I, and 12% from other federal sources. The average Title I grant is about $500,000 with a range of $24,000 to over $2.2 million. State funds average about $2 million, providing a typical per-pupil expenditure from all sources just slightly less than that found in public schools. currently (System Development Corporation, 1977).

Once the various monies are received by facilities, they are spent primarily on staff and materials. Nearly 75% of the Title I funds, on the average, support staff; this compares with 81% of the State funds being so used, and 40% of the funds from other Federal programs. In th case of Title I, nearly all those staff (over 80 percent on the average) are classroom personnel teachers and paid aides; about 3% are administrators, about 6% counselors, and about 11% other types of support personnel. (This is in marked contrast with the expenditure pattern for staff from State funds and other Federal funds: in the case of the former, only about 41%, on the average, supports classroom personnel, 12%

3/ so called because it submits an application to the SEA in order to receive Title I funds.

for administrators, and 37% for other support). This seems to confirm interviews' reports in the national study that the emphasis in Title I is on instruction (System Development Corporation, 1977).

On the average the Title I per-pupil expenditure in the institutions is $456, but the figures from less than $100 to almost $1700. For over 65% of the institutions, $500 or less was the Title I per pupil expenditure. Inclusion of funds from all sources raises the average per-pupil costs for Title I students to about $1350 (again, however, with a large range). The comparable figure for that same year in public schools was an average per-pupil expenditure of $1550. (Most of the difference between the two figures in attributable to an extremely low per-pupil expenditure in institutions for adults.)

The USOE list of State institutions eligible to receive Title I funds in 1976-77 contained 590 such facilities: 28 for neglected children, 323 for the delinquent, and 239 for adults (but serving youth under 21). In the sample of 100 visited, there were 10, 58, and 32 by category, respectively. (Institutions for neglected children were oversampled in order to provide descriptions of the program in that setting, specifically.)

Of the institutions eligible to receive Title I funding, 184 were not participating as of fall, 1976. They were often small facilities with few inmates eligible to receive Title I services (i.e., under 21 years of age and lacking a high school diploma). Nearly 1/4 of them, however, were fairly large institutions for adults, but having few residents eligible for Title I. This occurred primarily in the southeast.

Program Scope

Almost 27,000 children were receiving Title I services in State institutions in fall, 1976. Of these, 2550 were in institutions for the neglected, 16,730 in those for delinquent youth, and a little over 7560 in those for adults. This compares to an estimate of just over 51,000 as eligible to participate in the program nationwide. Eligible students are those who are younger than 21, lack a high school diploma, participate in a regular program, and are low-achievers.