Rural Policy Matters: July 2011


Last Updated: July 29, 2011
 

Rural Policy Matters: July 2011

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The July 2011 edition of Rural Policy Matters includes stories about the All Children are Equal (ACE) Act that would improve the Title I formulas, the Formula Fairness Act that would require most school districts to spend as much in their highest-poverty schools as in their lowest-poverty schools; the issue of teacher tenure and the kinds of changes to tenure that many states made in 2011; school discipline including a new report from Texas and an important U.S. Supreme Court decision; Rural School Funding News; and more.

Facts and Figures About Locales That Depend on State Funding for Education
Question: Schools in which locale — city, suburb, town, or rural community — are most heavily reliant, on average, on state funding as a percentage of their education budget?

ACE Act Would Ease Title I Inequities
A bill introduced this month in the U.S. House of Representatives aims to alter the Title I formulas that are unfair to students in poorer, smaller school districts.

Bill Would Require Districts to Spend “Comparably” In High-Poverty Schools
A new bill would amend the Title I law to require school districts to spend as much on the education of students in high-poverty schools as it does on students in low-poverty schools.

Paying Teachers for Performance: Issues and Dilemmas for Rural Schools, Teacher Tenure
RPM’s occasional series on pay-for-performance looks at the issue of teacher tenure and reviews some of the many ways that states changed tenure and related laws in their 2011 legislative sessions.

 

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Groundbreaking Texas Report Finds Harsh Discipline Is the Rule, Not the Exception
A study that tracked over a million Texas students found that almost 60% were expelled or suspended at least once in grades seven to twelve. Students with disabilities and African-American males received the highest rates of harsh punishment.

Supreme Court Rules Children Must Be Treated as Children by Police
In response to a North Carolina case in which a juvenile was questioned by police at school and then charged with several crimes, the Supreme Court has ruled that children must be treated differently in police questionings than adults.

 

Rural School Funding News

Washington School Funding Arguments Heard by State High Court
The State of Washington contends it is fulfilling its educational duties despite funding cuts to schools of nearly $4 billion.

North Carolina Budget Writers Cannot Impede State’s Constitutional Duty, Judge Says
A judge rules that places caps on the number of low-income children who can participate in a state-funding pre-K program is unconstitutional.

 

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Sources of Public School Funding, by Locale
Rural schools receive a lower portion of their school funding from the state than do suburban or town schools.