High School Qualifies for Additional Funds

San Fernando High School will receive a $539,714 federal grant given to schools that have a large population of low income students, Los Angeles Unified School District officials said.

This is the first year the 3,200-student high school will receive the funding, known as Title I.

The school in the past did not have the required percentage of impoverished students to qualify for the grant. It qualified recently under new regulations that reduced the minimum number of poor students needed from 75% of the student body to 65%.

However, San Fernando was in jeopardy of losing the grant money because school administrators failed to turn in an application by the December deadline, said Margaret Jones, who oversees implementation of the Title I program.

After a request from Supt. Sid Thompson to review the Pacoima school’s application, district officials determined that it could receive the grant. The school now must establish an advisory council composed of staff and parents of low income students to determine how it will use the funding.

“Most of the schools identified on the regular timeline . . . had to plan their budgets and submit them at the end of May,” Jones said. “So there’s a lot of work they need to do to make sure they’re set up in time.”

She added that the school can use the money to supplement funding from the district.

Some schools have used the funding to pay for teachers’ assistants and materials beyond basic textbooks.