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)

Last year the Texas legislature addressed a school funding lawsuit with the state’s budget surplus and some cigarette and business taxes. However, state spending caps may hamstring the plan in the 2008 fiscal year. Look for more discussion on funding in Texas. In addition, Texas has a pay-for-performance system that is opposed by many education groups and will be the subject of much attention from across the nation this year. Last year the legislature discussed district consolidation but did not act. The Senate Education Committee’s most vocal spokesperson for rural property poor districts, Todd Staples (R) who worked on the education finance bill to help address the concerns of those districts is the new Agriculture Commissioner. He has been replaced on the Education Committee by Dan Patrick (R), who campaigned to cut spending and increase financial accountability. This shift could re-align the urban-rural balance of the committee.

Posted by Robin Lambert at 04:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)