Volume 4, Number 11 November 2002

INSIDE THIS ISSUE Tennessee Supreme Court Strikes Down Rural School Funding Plan Rural Perspective Featured at National School Funding Conference Leave the Money on the Table: Vermont Better Off Going It Alone Michigan Looks at Declining Enrollment in Rural Schools Arkansas Schools Needing Improvement Listed If You Resist, They Will Audit Public Likes Small Schools, Fair Funding, More Money for Low Performing Schools Declining Enrollment: Widespread, But Especially in the West About RPM RPM Archives

Rural Perspective Featured
at National School Funding Conference

For years, urban school issues have dominated most national discussions among school finance experts. That appears to be changing as school finance reform leaders increasingly recognize that in order to be successful, they must also take into account the needs of rural schools and students. Reflecting this sea change in advocacy efforts, participants at a recent two day conference in New York sponsored by the National School Funding Network heard about the "rural perspective" on school finance reform from speakers representing the Rural School and Community Trust and rural groups engaged in school finance reform in numerous states.

Some of the key points made by rural advocates at the conference included:

• One in three students attend schools in rural areas and small towns nationwide.


• The poverty rate for rural children is actually higher than for urban children and poor rural schools frequently are as racially diverse as many urban schools.


• Many rural schools are small by necessity and community choice, but state policymakers increasingly are forcing them to close and consolidate. The result is often harmfu, long bus rides that may hinder student achievement.


• Like many urban schools, rural schools frequently have poor facilities, lack qualified teachers, face inadequate technology and have limited resources to serve high numbers of at risk, special education and limited English proficient students.


• Rural schools receive almost $2,000 less per child annually than do schools in metropolitan areas.

Speakers also indicated that the new No Child Left Behind Act could seriously jeopardize rural schools and students due to a lack of funding to implement the law. Furthermore, the unique challenges rural schools face in recruiting and retaining highly qualified teachers in remote rural areas exacerbates the situation.

The speakers offered five suggestions for fully engaging rural schools in organized efforts to improve funding for education:

• Support efforts to achieve "equity" as well as "adequacy" in school finance systems because adequacy alone will not address the needs of rural schools.
• Recognize and understand the unique characteristics and needs of rural schools and students.
• Ensure that proposed remedies provide rural schools with the resources they need to address their unique needs.
• Ensure that solutions to school finance problems don't lead to consolidation of schools, because both urban and rural students are entitled to good small schools.
• Ensure that rural schools are full partners in coalitions that may be formed to advocate for school finance reform.