Using School Funds to Support Family Participation at OyACE

A practical guide for school districtsSchool districts may use several federal, state, and local funding sources to support eligible parents and families attending OyACE conferences. Depending upon the program, allowable expenses may include conference registration, lodging, childcare, meals, mileage, and other transportation costs.

This approach is generally allowable when each expense is connected with the funding program’s purpose, approved in advance, reasonable and necessary, and properly documented.​

What is Braided Funding?
​Braided funding coordinates several funding sources to support one program or objective while keeping each source separately tracked and accountable. Each grant pays only for eligible participants and allowable activities under its own requirements.
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Braided funding differs from blended funding:

• Braided funding: Funding sources work together but remain separately identified, tracked, and reported.
• Blended funding: Money from several sources is combined into a common pool and may lose its separate identity.

The braided-funding framework was formalized and popularized in the early 2000s by Margaret Flynn and Cheryl D. Hayes of The Finance Project. Their publication, Blending and Braiding Funds to Support Early Care and Education Initiatives, built upon funding-coordination practices already being used in education and human services.

The framework allows schools to create one coordinated experience for families while complying with the separate eligibility, allowable-use, accounting, and reporting requirements of each funding source.

What expenses may be covered?
Depending upon the funding source and district policy, allowable expenses may include:

• Adult conference registration;
• Child or youth registration;
• Childcare or temporary dependent care;
• Mileage or other transportation;
• District-provided or chartered transportation;
• Necessary lodging;
• Meals, subsistence, or per diem;
• Interpretation or accessibility support; and
• Other necessary participant-support expenses.

Every expense must be tied to the applicable program. Personal expenses, entertainment, alcohol, optional excursions, and costs unrelated to the educational purpose of the conference should not be charged to a federal grant.

Recommended braided-funding modelBraiding does not require dividing every family’s expenses among several grants. The cleanest model is usually to assign each family to the funding source most directly connected with that family’s participation.

Possible Recommendations

• Eligible migrant family:  Title I-C
• Family of an English learner not funded through Title I-C:  Title III
• Family participating in a Title I program:  Title I-A
• For families experiencing homelessness:
  • Title I-A when appropriate OR
  • McKinney-Vento (Title X) for a documented student-specific need
• For Family or expenses not covered by a federal program:  State, local, foundation, or unrestricted funds

​A family may qualify under more than one program. However, the same registration, hotel room, meal, or mileage expense cannot be charged to multiple grants. The district should select the most appropriate funding source and document the reason for that selection.

Shared expenses may be allocated. For example, the cost of a charter bus may be divided among Title I-C, Title III, and Title I-A according to the documented number of eligible participants supported by each program.

Title I-C Migrant EducationTitle I-C is one of the strongest funding sources for eligible migrant families because parent engagement is an integral part of the Migrant Education Program.

Federal Migrant Education guidance specifically recognizes:

• Parent conferences;
• Parent training programs;
• Expenses associated with attending training;
• Reasonable and necessary costs supporting migrant parents’ attendance at workshops and conferences;
• Reasonable food or refreshments when meetings extend through a mealtime; and
• Reasonable expenses associated with Migrant Parent Advisory Council participation.

The district should document how OyACE participation will help migrant parents:

• Support their children’s academic progress;
• Participate more effectively in the Migrant Education Program;
• Understand graduation, college, and career pathways;
• Communicate and work with educators;
• Develop leadership and advocacy skills; or
• Share information with other migrant families.

The activity should connect with the district’s Migrant Education Comprehensive Needs Assessment, Service Delivery Plan, parent-engagement plan, or PAC recommendations.
Title I-C should generally reimburse actual allowable expenses rather than provide parents with a general stipend. Payment for lost wages is ordinarily limited to qualifying PAC participation and should not be assumed for general conference attendance.
Review ODE-hosted Migrant Education Program guidance

Title III English Learner Funds
Title III requires parent, family, and community engagement and permits parent outreach and training that helps families become active participants in their children’s education.

Title III may support OyACE participation when the selected sessions directly advance purposes such as:

• Understanding English-language development;
• Supporting learning at home;
• Understanding academic expectations and assessments;
• Communicating effectively with educators;
• Understanding graduation requirements;
• Preparing students for college and careers; and
• Increasing meaningful participation by multilingual families.

Federal guidance confirms that Title III funds may be used to organize, host, or attend conferences when the activity:

• Aligns with the district’s approved Title III plan;
• Relates directly to Title III purposes; and
• Is necessary to accomplish the program’s objectives.

Title III must supplement rather than replace required district services. It should not replace interpretation, translation, notices, or other services the district is already legally required to provide to English learners and their families.
Review Title III conference guidance from NCELA
Review the Title III statute

Title I-A Parent and Family Engagement
Title I-A is another strong source for parent participation. Federal law expressly permits districts and schools to pay reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent-engagement activities, including transportation and childcare.

At a Title I schoolwide school, parent-engagement activities can generally include families throughout the school. At a targeted-assistance school, participation must be connected to children served through the targeted-assistance program.

The district should connect OyACE with its Title I parent and family engagement plan and document how participation will help parents:

• Understand academic expectations;
• Monitor their children’s progress;
• Support learning at home;
• Work effectively with teachers and administrators; and
• Participate in educational decisions.

Title I-A should not be administered as individual financial assistance based upon a parent’s income. Eligibility is based upon participation in the applicable Title I program, not upon requiring individual families to prove that they are low-income.
Review Title I-A parent and family engagement requirements

McKinney-Vento
The program sometimes referred to locally as “Title X” is now the McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program under Title IX, Part A of ESSA. McKinney-Vento funds may support education and training for parents and guardians concerning the rights and resources available to children and youth experiencing homelessness. The law also allows activities designed to increase meaningful parent involvement in the education of eligible children.

This funding requires a narrower, student-centered justification. Current guidance explains that McKinney-Vento funds cannot support services benefiting only a parent or another household member.  Before using these funds for OyACE participation, the district’s McKinney-Vento liaison should document:

• The student’s eligibility;
• The educational need or barrier;
• How the parent’s participation will benefit the student;
• Why another resource is unavailable; and
• Why the expense is reasonable in relation to the expected benefit.

When the family also participates in a Title I-A program, Title I-A parent-engagement funding may be the cleaner source.
Review authorized McKinney-Vento activities
Review the 2025 McKinney-Vento use-of-funds guide

Other possible funding sources
Depending upon the district’s grants and approved plans, additional options may include:

• Title IV-B/21st Century Community Learning Centers: Family literacy or educational-development activities connected with participating students.
• Title VI Indian Education: Activities included in the approved program for eligible American Indian or Alaska Native students and families.
• IDEA Part B: Training directly related to understanding special education, participating in the IEP process, or supporting a student with a disability.
• Perkins V: Activities connected with an approved career and technical education strategy.
• Title V-B Rural Education: Authorized activities in eligible rural districts.
• Oregon Student Investment Account or integrated-program funds: Activities included in the district’s approved plan and falling within an allowable-use category.
• Local, foundation, or unrestricted funds: Participants or expenses that do not fit a federal program.

These sources are more fact-specific. Title I-C, Title III, and Title I-A will ordinarily provide the most direct connection to OyACE’s parent-development purpose.

Children’s programming and childcare
OyACE provides concurrent programming for children and youth so parents can participate fully in the conference.  The services are divided by grade level:

• Preschool through grade 2: Childcare with developmentally appropriate activities, allowing parents to participate fully in the OyACE conference.
• Grades 3 and above: A structured YLP educational program. This is not childcare. Participants receive age-appropriate educational programming.

These expenses should be classified differently for funding purposes.
Preschool through grade 2:  The cost for younger children may be treated as childcare or temporary dependent care when the service is necessary for a parent to participate in the conference.
Title I-A expressly permits reasonable and necessary childcare costs associated with parent-engagement activities. Temporary dependent care may also qualify as a participant-support expense under applicable federal cost rules.
Grades 3 and above:  The YLP registration fee should be evaluated as the cost of an educational program benefiting the participating child or youth. The district should connect the expense with the funding program serving that student.

Possible funding assignments include:

• Title I-C: Eligible migrant children and youth when the educational program supports identified Migrant Education Program needs.
• Title III: English learners when the programming advances applicable language-development, academic, leadership, or family-engagement objectives.
• Title I-A: Students participating in an eligible Title I schoolwide or targeted-assistance program.
• McKinney-Vento: Eligible students when participation addresses a documented barrier to attendance, engagement, or educational success.
• State, local, foundation, or unrestricted funds: Students whose participation does not fit another funding source.

Districts should not classify the grades 3-and-above YLP program as childcare merely because it occurs while parents attend the OyACE conference. Its primary purpose is educational.
For clear accounting, invoices should separate the following categories:

• OyACE Adult Conference Registration
• YLP Educational Program Registration—Grades 3 and Above
• Early-Childhood Care—Preschool Through Grade 2

This separation helps the district assign each cost to the most appropriate funding source and document the distinct services received by adults, youth, and younger children.

How OyACE can help
OyACE can provide:

• Conference agendas and session descriptions;
• Registration invoices;
• Attendance verification;
• Information about included meals;
• Child and youth program descriptions;
• Supporting documentation for district approval; and
• Invoices organized by district funding cohort.

Eligibility determinations and final funding approvals remain the responsibility of the participating district.

Federal rules require grant-funded expenses to be necessary, reasonable, allocable, consistently treated, and adequately documented. Current Uniform Guidance recognizes participant-support expenses such as registration, travel allowances, subsistence, per diem, and temporary dependent care. Each district must also follow its own policies, approved grant plans, and award conditions.
Review federal conference cost requirements
Review federal participant-support cost requirements

​For assistance developing a braided-funding plan for an OyACE conference, contact OyACE at [email protected] or 503-893-8939.