Rural Matters

We wanted to know more about the rural school districts that serve high poverty communities so first we statistically rounded up the 7604 districts nationwide that have over half their students in a school that is physically located in a rural community. Then we identified the 800 – about 10 percent -- that have the highest rate of eligibility for the federal Title I program. That is the program providing funds for disadvantaged students. We’ll call these 800 high-poverty rural districts the "rural 800."

Continue reading to find out more about these districts and to see a chart of the 16 states where most Rural 800 districts are located.

Continue reading "The "Rural 800" Districts" »

Posted by Marty Strange at 09:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

In an earlier post , we asked a question about how rural schools have addressed housing needs as a way to recruit and retain teachers. Here’s the original question:

Our school has teacher retention problems due to many things, including lack of housing near the school. We are thinking about buying a house that we could rent out to new teachers and are wondering if this has been tried before and if it was successful.

We’ve received several examples of specific ideas that rural schools are using as well as additional ideas for addressing this vexing problem.

We thought these ideas deserved their own post, so we’ve listed them below (some are also in the comment section of the original post).

If you would like to contact the person who sent the idea, please email Rural Matters editor and we will help put you in contact with the person who submitted the idea.

Thanks to everyone who shared their knowledge. Please feel free to add to the discussion by adding a comment below.

SOLUTIONS TO RURAL TEACHER HOUSING DILEMMAS

NEW! September 4, 2007 FROM CALIFORNIA: There are schools that provide teacherages here in northern California. Kashia, a school of 14 students, has a teacherage. I believe the teacher pays a small amount of rent for it each month. There are other examples of this in isolated rural areas. In Zenia, CA there were two houses on the school property; one for the teacher and the other for the bus driver/maintenance person.

FROM MONTANA: In rural Eastern Montana small schools often have a “teacherage”, a small house near the school, or even on school property, that they offer as free housing in order to keep teachers. These rural schools are sometimes 50 miles from the nearest small town, so providing free housing is essential.

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FROM NEW MEXICO: In New Mexico, a rural school (Tatum Municipal Schools) established building construction classes for high school students, bought materials and had them build housing (for teachers, I think) owned by the district. They report good success with this.... Another New Mexico school who has been doing this for some time is Santa Fe High School...although not necessarily a rural school.

Continue reading "Solutions for Rural Teacher Housing Question" »

Posted by Robin Lambert at 12:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Schools in Alabama may soon get some much-needed help in funding facilities, if Governor Bob Riley’s proposed $850 million bond issue is passed. A survey shows many state legislators agree that construction funding is needed, and that perhaps the amount should be even higher. Debate over how to split the money between K-12 and higher education and how to distribute funds to school districts is expected. Also, the state’s Education Trust Fund for public schools and colleges may provide as much as 7.7% in increased spending on education next year, thanks to improvement in the economy.

Posted by Robin Lambert at 02:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The big education issue this legislative session is shaping up to be school construction. Local school systems are generally responsible for their own new construction costs. Periodically, however, the state issues construction bonds and provides state money to local school systems. Prior to the opening of the legislative session on February 6th, Governor Bill Riley (R) proposed a $500 million bond issue that would be split between K-12 and higher education. State Senate President pro tem Hinton Mitchem (D) has proposed a $750 million bond. Some observers think the bond issue could go as high as $1 billiion. Unclear at this point is how the money will be doled out. Controversy is expected over how bond monies will be split between higher education and K-12. Riley has suggested giving each school system a flat amount plus an amount based on enrollment. High growth school systems and low-wealth districts with serious construction/renovation needs want more targeted distribution of the funds. Riley also proposes expanding the state’s distance learning program, ACCESS, in his Plan 2010.

Posted by Robin Lambert at 04:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Voters in Alabama passed "Amendment 2" on Tuesday (59% /41%), requiring each school system (district) in the state to contribute 10 mills of property tax toward the school system's budget.

Prior to the passage of Amendment 2, local school systems were required to contribute the equivalent of 10 mills toward the state school funding formula for their system. Thirty of the state's 101 school systems collected less than 10 mills of property tax and made up the difference, usually through local sales taxes. A mill of property tax is $1 dollar tax for each $1,000 of assessed valuation.

Property taxes in Alabama remain the lowest in the nation, but the constitutional amendment will shift some of the local tax requirment for schools from sales taxes, which are more subject to economic variation and fall more heavily on low and middle income people who spend a higher share of their income on necessities, to property taxes, which are more stable and predictible and tend to fall more heavily on people who own more valuable homes and land.

Although the shift from 10-mill equivalent to 10 actual mills is viewed in some ways as a tax fairness measure, it is widely expected to generate more income for local schools. Most school systems will continue to collect all or part of their local sales tax for schools, which will now supply additional income above the 10 mill requirement.

Posted by Robin Lambert at 12:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

As voters across the country go to the polls next week, many will be asked to cast a ballot on one or more tax initiatives--or on measures to limit government's taxing authority or its spending. Many of those initiatives could have far-reaching implications for schools. One initiative that has received little national attention is in Alabama.

In that state a measure known as Amendment 2 would require all school systems in the state to contribute 10 mills of local property tax toward the support of local schools. That's just $1 in taxes on each $1000 in valuation, or $100 a year for a $100,000 house. Hard to believe, but true.

Part of the reason the measure has gotten so little attention is that it's a somewhat embarrassing situation, even for the most strident anti-tax advocates. Less than $100 a year on a $100,000 house is very little to ask citizens to provide toward the support of local schools.

Another reason that the measure has gotten relatively little attention outside the state is that it will apply primarily to rural counties. The most powerful advocates for low property taxes in Alabama have traditionally been large corporations and individuals that hold huge tracts of "unimproved" (mainly forest) acreage-- acreage that is mainly in rural places.

Continue reading "Minimum--very minimum--School Support on Ballot in Alabama" »

Posted by Robin Lambert at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)