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Title III: MCPS spends most grant on salaries, targets supports for emergent multilingual learners
Summary
Tamara Hewlett and MCPS staff described Title III funding for emergent multilingual learners: roughly $3.9 million for FY25, a per‑pupil grant equivalency near $123 per counted student, and major allocations for salaries, contractual services and materials to support language development.
Tamara Hewlett, Director of the Department of English Learners and Multilingual Education, told the Fiscal Management Committee that MCPS's Title III grant for emerging multilingual learners (EMLs) is smaller than Title I but funds targeted supports including instructional specialists, contractual professional learning and materials.
Hewlett and staff said the FY25 Title III allocation (state pass‑through) funded 31,706 enrolled EMLs plus about 401 nonpublic participants for a counted total of 32,107; dividing the grant to a per‑student value yields about $123.07 per counted student and a total grant near $3.9 million for the school year. They said Title III is a 15‑month grant, commonly spent down within 15 months with amendments or extensions if activities lag. The largest share of Title III funds goes to salaries and benefits; the FY26 grant plan under development includes requests for 12 instructional specialist positions (cluster‑based ELD specialists, a biliteracy specialist for two‑way immersion and SLIFE support at secondary level), contractual professional learning partners (for example, SupportEd and SpeakAgent), and materials such as headphones with microphones, bilingual dictionaries and take‑home manipulatives for students with interrupted formal education.
Staff described examples of contractual work: a multi‑year SupportEd partnership in the Gaithersburg cluster with coaching and professional learning, and SpeakAgent pilots for content‑heavy high school courses (biology and Government) at schools with larger EML populations. Hewlett emphasized that the grant is supplemental to district baseline services and that the state supplies the WIDA-related assessment; Title III materials are meant to augment daily instructional practice and not to supplant state or locally funded core services.
Board members asked about how schools access Lexia ELD and other license windows; staff said licenses are distributed according to need and guardrails and that principals and ELD teachers receive advance notices of allocation windows. Members also noted the program budget for EMLs overall approaches $100 million when local funds and other central budgets are included, and the Title III grant was described as relatively small but targeted support.
Less critical details: staff said they purchased classroom‑ready headphones and microphones to normalize test and instructional access, and that Title III funds support nonpublic school participation with district stewardship over ordering and distribution.
