ED Seeks School-by-School Salary Data from Districts Under ARRA Comparability Provision

School districts will soon be asked to provide the aggregate salaries of staff at each of their schools under a push by Congress and the Obama administration to beef up the Title I comparability provision.

The longstanding provision requires Title I schools to receive a share of state and local funds that is "comparable" to non-Title I schools in the same district. The theory is that only if Title I funds are added to a level playing field can they have their intended effect of granting high-poverty schools additional assistance.

Comparability was once a powerful civil rights tool, but has lost its punch over the years due to legislative compromises and lax enforcement. Moreover, recent research has raised questions about whether data being used by some districts for their annual comparability determinations are distorted by their budget practices.