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)

A pending finance lawsuit in Georgia could influence the budget. Governor Sonny Perdue (R) has proposed using $32.7million to close the wealth gap between school systems. There will also be legislative efforts to limit proceeds from the state lottery going to the state’s HOPE scholarship program, pre-K initiatives, and graduation coaches in middle schools. The state recently installed graduation coaches in all high schools, resulting in an increase in graduation rates in the state. Perdue has also proposed a 3% raise for teachers along with a $100 gift card. The tate’s Senate pro tem, Eric Johnson (R), wants to issue vouchers for special needs children, which some critics say is an avenue toward vouchers for all children.

Posted by Robin Lambert at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)