Rural Report Highlights Inequities Faced by Rural School Districts

The Rural School and Community Trust – a national nonprofit organization addressing the crucial relationship between good schools and thriving communities – recently released Why Rural Matters 2009: State and Regional Challenges and Opportunities, a study documenting important rural education issues in all 50 states. The report provides interesting and comprehensive data on the little discussed issue of rural school districts and the students they serve, ranking states on the relative importance and urgency of rural education. It also points to an issue we’re interested in at Ed Money Watch – Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) Title I funding formulas and how they effect rural students differently than their urban and suburban peers.

While much attention is given to problems in large urban school districts in the wider education policy discourse, this report is one of the few that focuses on the unique issues rural school districts confront. Given that these school districts serve 20 percent of the public school students in the U.S., it is critical that we identify and address the challenges rural school districts face in educating these students.

The report uses student academic achievement data from the Federal Education Budget Project, Ed Money Watch’s parent initiative, and other National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. Census Bureau data to examine the status of rural education in each state in terms of student diversity, educational expenditures and other policies, academic outcomes, school district characteristics, and the overall importance of rural education.

The report concludes that rural students living in states with more rural poverty and socio-economic diversity score lower on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and No Child Left Behind (NCLB) tests and graduate at lower rates than their peers in states with less rural poverty and diversity. Because the characteristics of rural students and schools vary widely across states, rural schools and students in some states face larger challenges than others.

Without a doubt, rural schools face challenges that urban and suburban schools do not. And while these challenges vary, 32.3 percent of schools and 19.4 percent of students in America are in rural areas, not an insignificant share of the student population. But federal policies often overlook rural districts and the students they serve.

Take for example the ESEA Title I funding formulas, which distribute $14.5 billion each year to local school districts. Provisions in the formulas meant to target funds to students from low income families can put rural school districts at a disadvantage, providing them with fewer federal funds to address the challenges their low-income students face. These provisions are intended account for variation in state per pupil expenditures, state size, and concentrations of impoverished students. For example, the provision that attempts to direct more aid to states where education is more expensive actually benefits wealthy states that are able to spend more on education. Because a large proportion of rural school districts are located in states with below average per pupil expenditures, these districts receive less funding than they otherwise would have.

The negative consequences for rural school districts hidden in the Title I formulas may be unintentional, but are serious nonetheless. They leave students in rural school districts at a disadvantage, while favoring students in large urban areas or in states that already invest large amounts of money in public education. The Rural School and Community Trust report highlights the need to reexamine these formulas to target the students and school districts that need them most, including those in rural areas.