Cabarrus adopts Title I budget plan and shifts allocation method to direct certification to avoid 'CEP cliff'

The Cabarrus County Board of Education voted to approve the district's Title I budget for the 2025 school year and to use a direct-certification-only formula for identifying Title I schools and allotments.

District staff explained the change was intended to avoid what they called a "CEP cliff," a side effect of applying a 1.6 multiplier to CEP schools that can artificially inflate student counts used to calculate per-pupil Title I allocations and thereby reduce funding available for non-CEP schools in the district mix.

Under the state-provided options, the district had previously used a hybrid method (direct certification for CEP schools and free-and-reduced-price-lunch data for non-CEP schools, with a 1.6 multiplier for CEP schools). For 2025-26 staff recommended option 1: direct certification only, which uses state direct-certification data without the 1.6 multiplier. District leaders said the move results in a more gradual distribution of service levels across schools (from ~65% down to ~42% in direct-certification rates) rather than a set of schools being treated as effectively 100% served under the multiplier approach.

Numbers and allocations: staff said the district's Title I allotment rose by $703,276 this year for a total Title I budget of approximately $5.4 million. District set-asides account for about 15.7% of the total, with the remainder allocated to schools; the district emphasized that 90% of required parent and family engagement set-asides are returned to schools.

Board action: Pam Escobar moved and Shannon Lancaster seconded approval of the Title I budget plan. The board approved the plan.

How schools will use funds: district staff outlined that most Title I school allocations fund personnel (teachers, instructional coaches, tutors, and paraprofessionals), with additional spending on parent and family engagement, instructional materials, interventions and supports for homeless and foster students. The district reinstated a poverty-band approach to give higher per-pupil allotments to the neediest schools, with a modest differential between bands.

Why it matters: Title I funding supports supplemental services in schools with higher concentrations of students identified through direct certification or other federal measures. Because many personnel costs are charged at the school level, a funding formula change can materially affect staffing decisions and program supports.