ACE Act would reshape Title I funding
A bipartisan bill called the All Children Are Equal (ACE) Act was introduced to change how Title I grants are distributed—aiming for more precise targeting of high‑need students and greater equity. California lawmakers are among the sponsors, signaling alignment between state and federal pushes for fairer K–12 funding. (quiverquant.com)
H.R. 4565 — the “All Children Are Equal Act” — was filed in the 118th Congress on July 11, 2023 and is cataloged under that bill number on Congress.gov. (congress.gov) The bill text would amend Section 1125AA of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act to “increase grants per formula student as the percentage of economically disadvantaged children in a local educational agency increases,” language that explicitly removes reliance on number-weighting. (congress.gov) Legislative summaries and bill language state the ACE Act would make Targeted Grants and Education Finance Incentive Grants compute weighted student counts using only percentage-based weighting rather than the larger of percentage or absolute-number weighting. (legislate.dev) Representative Glenn “GT” Thompson’s office issued a March 18, 2026 press release saying the current Title I formula “diverts funding from smaller school districts with higher instances of poverty to more populous school districts” and asserting the ACE change would direct “millions more” to low‑income students in California’s 19th District. (thompson.house.gov) Congress.gov’s all‑info page for H.R.4565 lists 14 cosponsors (including Rep. Jimmy Panetta, Rep. Jared Huffman and Rep. Doug LaMalfa) and shows the bill was referred to the House Committee on Education and the Workforce on July 11, 2023. (congress.gov) The March 18, 2026 press release records endorsements from AASA (The School Superintendents Association) and the National Rural Education Association, with AASA’s David Schuler and NREA’s Dr. Melissa Sadorf quoted saying the bill would better align Title I dollars with concentrated poverty. (thompson.house.gov)
