Can Title I Funds Pay for Financial Literacy? A Funding Crosswalk for Maryland Schools
Can Title I funds be used for financial literacy? Yes. A Title I schoolwide program can pay for financial literacy when the school's needs assessment and schoolwide plan support it, and the 1 percent family engagement set-aside can fund family workshops. Title IV, Part A names financial literacy in its statute. In Maryland the catch is supplanting: state rules already require financial literacy, so federal money has to add to it.
Every funding stream below is legal on paper. The question a Title I coordinator will actually ask is narrower. Does your program add to the financial literacy Maryland already requires, or does it replace it?
That question shapes everything in this guide.
This is general information, not legal or fiscal advice. Your district's Title I office and MSDE make the final call on any expense.
Key takeaways
Title I schoolwide programs can fund any activity in the schoolwide plan that the comprehensive needs assessment supports, and 86 percent of Title I schools ran a schoolwide program in 2022-23, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
Districts with a Title I allocation above $500,000 must reserve at least 1 percent for parent and family engagement under ESEA section 1116, and at least 90 percent of that reserve goes to Title I schools.
Title IV, Part A of ESEA lists "financial literacy and Federal financial aid awareness activities" as an allowable well-rounded education activity in section 4107(a)(3)(A)(iii).
Maryland regulation COMAR 13A.04.06.01 requires every local school system to teach personal financial literacy in elementary, middle and high school, so federal funds are safest on programs that go beyond that required baseline.
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program lists financial literacy programs as an allowable after-school activity, and MSDE's FY27 awards run from $50,000 to $400,000.
Can Title I funds be used for financial literacy?
Yes, as long as the program traces back to a need your school documented. Title I isn't limited to reading and math. In a schoolwide program, Title I can pay for any activity in the schoolwide plan that the comprehensive needs assessment supports. Financial literacy qualifies when the assessment points to it.
The kind of Title I program your school runs matters more than the subject.
Program type | Who it serves | What that means for financial literacy |
|---|---|---|
Schoolwide | Every student, in schools where at least 40 percent of children are from low-income families | Whole-class or after-school programs can fit, if they're in the schoolwide plan |
Targeted assistance | Only students identified as failing, or at risk of failing, state standards | Harder to justify for a whole class; better for small-group support |
Most Title I schools are schoolwide. The Department of Education reported that 86 percent of Title I schools operated a schoolwide program in 2022-23, in a January 21, 2026 letter to states.
That same letter makes a point most schools miss. Schoolwide programs are allowed to combine Title I with other federal, state and local money into one pool. Yet in the Department's last study, only 6 percent of schoolwide programs in 2015-16 actually did it. A lot of schools are working with less flexibility than the law gives them.
What can be purchased with Title 1 funds?
Title 1 funds can buy instruction, staff time, materials, outside providers and extra learning time, as long as each cost ties back to the plan. Section 1114(d) of ESEA specifically allows a schoolwide program to use nonprofit or for-profit external providers. That's the clause that lets a school bring in an outside financial literacy partner.
Field trips are a gray area people ask about constantly. Some state guidance, such as Vermont's list of Title I allowable uses, lists educational field trips for Title I students as allowable. General-purpose trips aren't. If you're planning something like our FinancialField Trips, write the learning goal into the plan before you book the bus.
The funding crosswalk: six ways to pay for financial literacy in Maryland
Six funding sources can pay for financial literacy in a Maryland school: Title I schoolwide funds, the Title I family engagement set-aside, Title IV-A, 21st Century Community Learning Centers grants, Maryland's Concentration of Poverty Grant, and bank sponsorship. Each one has a different decision-maker and a different supplanting risk.
Most lists of financial literacy grants stop at the name of the program. The columns that matter to a coordinator are the last three.
Funding stream | Legal hook | What it can pay for | Who decides | Supplanting risk |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Title I-A schoolwide program | ESEA section 1114 | Any activity in the schoolwide plan that the needs assessment supports | School planning team, with district Title I office approval | Lower: tested at the district level, not cost by cost |
Title I-A family engagement set-aside | ESEA section 1116(a)(3) | Parent education, family workshops, presenter fees | District and school, with parents of Title I students involved | Lower: same Title I test |
Title IV-A (Student Support and Academic Enrichment) | ESEA section 4107(a)(3)(A)(iii) | Financial literacy and federal financial aid awareness activities | District, through its Title IV-A application | Higher: presumed supplanting if state law requires the activity |
Title IV-B, 21st Century Community Learning Centers | ESEA section 4205 | After-school and summer programs, including financial literacy | MSDE, through a competitive grant | Must add to existing programs |
Maryland Concentration of Poverty Grant | Md. Code, Education 5-223 and 9.9-101 | Wraparound services, including extended learning time and family engagement | Community school coordinator, through the needs assessment and implementation plan | Check MSDE and district rules |
Bank sponsorship (not federal) | Community Reinvestment Act activity, not ESSA | Bank-funded youth financial education | The sponsoring bank | ESSA supplanting rules don't apply |
The last row is the fallback when federal money doesn't fit. We cover how that works on our page for banks funding financial literacy programs.
Does supplement, not supplant block financial literacy in Maryland?
No, but it decides which money you should use. Maryland already requires financial literacy instruction, so paying for that required baseline with Title IV-A money is presumed to be supplanting. Title I is tested differently, at the district level. The safe lane for federal money is programming that goes beyond what Maryland requires.
Supplement, not supplant means federal education money has to add to what a school would get from state and local sources. It can't replace spending the school would have made anyway.
Maryland's requirement is in regulation. COMAR 13A.04.06.01 requires each local school system to provide an instructional program in personal financial literacy in elementary, middle and high school. The core program is a state obligation.
Title I and Title IV-A handle that obligation differently.
Title I. Since the Every Student Succeeds Act, districts no longer have to prove each Title I cost is supplemental. Under ESEA section 1118(b), compliance turns on whether the district hands out state and local money to schools without regard to Title I status, as the California Department of Education explains. The program still has to sit in the plan.
Title IV-A. Section 4110 requires Title IV-A money to supplement. State guidance, such as Oregon's Title IV-A supplanting summary, presumes supplanting when the money pays for an activity state law requires. In Maryland, that puts the required financial literacy program squarely at risk.
So what counts as going beyond the requirement? These are the programs that tend to be easiest to defend:
After-school financial literacy clubs
Family money workshops
Simulations and hands-on projects that add depth to required lessons
Field trips tied to a learning goal
Extra time on standards your district doesn't already cover in depth
That's our reading of the rules, not an MSDE position. Your district's Title I and Title IV-A offices have the final word.
Maryland's financial literacy baseline is about to move
Maryland is rewriting the standards that define the required program. MSDE's draft has eight standards and 130 indicators, and it adds a K-2 grade band for the first time. Public comment closed October 16, 2026, and the State Board still has to adopt it. We covered the changes in our post on Maryland's draft personal financial literacy standards.
Once the new standards are adopted, more content will probably count as required. Budget narratives written this year should name what a program adds beyond the standards, not just that it teaches money skills.
Can Title I family engagement funds pay for a family money workshop?
Usually, yes. Districts with Title I allocations above $500,000 must reserve at least 1 percent for parent and family engagement, and at least 90 percent of that reserve goes to Title I schools. A family money workshop fits when parents helped decide how the money is spent and the event connects to what their children are learning.
The rules come from ESEA section 1116 and the Department of Education's January 2025 parent and family engagement guidance. Two details trip schools up:
Parents have a say. Parents of Title I students must be involved in decisions about how the family engagement reserve is spent. A workshop that parents asked for is much easier to approve than one an administrator picked alone.
Food and incentives vary by state. Some states allow meals at evening events and some don't. Check Maryland's rules before you budget pizza.
State guidance commonly lists parent education, presenter fees and the costs of helping families attend trainings as allowable. The Illinois State Board of Education's parent engagement guide is a clear example.
Montgomery County already runs this model. MCPS says its Title I schools receive funds for family engagement, including workshops on helping children improve academically.
A family money workshop is easiest to justify when it ties to classwork. Maryland's revised math standards now assess coins and bills in Grade 1, which we broke down in our post on the new Maryland math standards for K-2. An evening session on practicing money math at home connects family engagement directly to an assessed standard. For families of older students, a session on how to read a pay stub works well alongside a first summer job.
Can Title IV-A funds pay for financial literacy?
Yes. Title IV, Part A names financial literacy outright in its list of well-rounded education activities. Section 4107(a)(3)(A)(iii) lists financial literacy and federal financial aid awareness activities under college and career guidance. Districts can partner with nonprofits to deliver it, but Title IV-A is also where Maryland's supplanting risk is highest.
Title IV, Part A is also called the Student Support and Academic Enrichment program, or SSAE. It's a different program from Title IV of the Higher Education Act, which governs college financial aid. Search results mix the two up constantly.
Here's what the Title IV-A statute actually says about the money:
Where financial literacy sits. It's listed under college and career guidance and counseling, next to postsecondary and career exploration. Some vendor guides file it under STEM or environmental education. The statute doesn't.
How much goes to well-rounded education. A district receiving $30,000 or more must spend at least 20 percent of its Title IV-A money on well-rounded activities like this one.
How the district decides. Districts at that level run a needs assessment every three years and describe their plans in an application to the state.
Who can deliver it. Section 4107(a)(2) allows partnerships with nonprofits, businesses and community organizations.
The practical move is to pitch Title IV-A for enrichment, not for the required course. A financial aid awareness night for juniors and seniors fits the statute's exact wording and sits outside Maryland's required instruction.
After school and community schools: 21st CCLC and Concentration of Poverty grants
Two sources pay for out-of-school financial literacy in Maryland. The federal 21st Century Community Learning Centers program lists financial literacy programs as an allowable activity. Maryland community schools can also use Concentration of Poverty Grant money for wraparound services, which include extended learning time and family engagement.
21st Century Community Learning Centers
The 21st Century Community Learning Centers program funds before-school, after-school and summer programs. ESEA section 4205 names financial literacy programs among the activities it supports.
MSDE runs Maryland's competition. For FY27, MSDE's grant page set awards from $50,000 to $400,000, with applications due July 6, 2026, for a three-year cohort. According to MSDE's program page, grantees include schools, districts, faith-based groups and community-based organizations. A school doesn't have to apply alone.
Maryland's Concentration of Poverty Grant
Maryland's Concentration of Poverty Grant funds community schools under the Blueprint for Maryland's Future. Each community school has a coordinator who runs a needs assessment and builds an implementation plan around wraparound services. The Maryland State Board's overview of community schools lists those services, including extended learning time and family and community engagement.
The scale is real. Montgomery County Public Schools told the General Assembly in February 2026 that it funds 77 community schools through the Concentration of Poverty Grant.
If your school is a community school, the coordinator is the person to talk to first. We've written about how the Blueprint for Maryland's Future handles financial literacy, and about the after-school financial literacy programs running in Montgomery County this fall.
Where federal Title I money stands this fall
Title I money for this school year is already flowing. The October 1 installment went to states through the Education Department's own grants system, and a continuing resolution keeps federal agencies funded through December 11, 2026. The open question is full-year FY2027 funding, which sets budgets for the 2027-28 school year.
Title I is forward funded, so the money schools spend in 2026-27 was appropriated for FY2026. Education Week reported in August that the October installment would go out through the Department's existing system rather than a Department of Labor portal. The Congressional Research Service's status report confirms full-year FY2027 education appropriations haven't been enacted.
For planning purposes, budget this year's financial literacy work with confidence. Plan next year's with a backup source in mind.
Before you budget financial literacy with federal funds: a 5-step checklist
A financial literacy expense gets approved when the paper trail is in place before the purchase. These five steps cover what a Title I or federal programs office will check. Most of them take one conversation, not a new application.
Confirm your program type. Ask whether your school runs a schoolwide or targeted assistance Title I program. That one answer decides who the program can serve.
Tie it to a documented need. Point to a specific finding in your comprehensive needs assessment, such as weak math reasoning, low family engagement or college and career readiness gaps.
Write it into the plan. Add the program to the schoolwide plan or the family engagement plan, with parent input where the rules require it.
Show what it adds. Document how the program goes beyond the financial literacy instruction COMAR already requires.
Get sign-off and plan your data. Clear it with the district Title I or federal programs office, and decide up front what outcomes you'll report.
Frequently asked questions
What students are eligible for Title 1 funds?
Why is financial literacy not taught in school?
In Maryland, financial literacy is taught in school by requirement. The State Board adopted regulations in June 2010 requiring every school system to provide personal financial literacy instruction in elementary, middle and high school. Delivery varies, though. Some districts embed it in other courses, and there's no statewide graduation requirement, as we covered in our post on personal finance graduation requirements after a move to Maryland.
Can Title I funds pay for financial literacy field trips?
Title I funds can pay for field trips in some cases, when the trip is educational and tied to the school's Title I plan. General-purpose or recreational trips usually aren't allowable. Write the learning goal into the plan and confirm with your district Title I office before booking.
Is Title IV-A the same as Title IV financial aid?
No. Title IV-A is the Student Support and Academic Enrichment program under the K-12 education law, ESEA. Title IV financial aid is a separate part of the Higher Education Act that covers college grants and loans. Only Title IV-A pays for K-12 financial literacy programs.
Do we need a separate grant application to use Title I for financial literacy?
Usually not. Title I financial literacy spending goes into documents your school already maintains: the schoolwide plan or the family engagement plan. The district Title I office reviews it as part of your normal Title I budget. Competitive programs like 21st Century Community Learning Centers are different and do require their own application.
Where to start
So can Title I funds be used for financial literacy? In most Maryland schools, yes. Title I, Title IV-A, 21st CCLC and Maryland's community school grants can all pay for financial literacy, and the deciding factor is usually the paper trail, not the subject. In Maryland, that paper trail has to show the program adds to what COMAR already requires.
Start with your needs assessment. If it points to math reasoning, family engagement or college and career readiness, you likely have a case.
Diapers 2 Deposits builds K-12 financial literacy programs that schools can map to those findings, from after-school clubs to family workshops. Bring us your needs assessment and we'll show you where a program fits. See how we work with schools.
