High rural poverty levels and an undesirable policy context in Idaho rank it 19th in the nation in need of rural education attention and improvement. Idaho’s rural schools face serious economic disadvantages, with high percentages of students qualifying for subsidized meals and low rural household income. Rural populations are fairly diverse, with the nation’s fifth highest percentage of English Language Learners. Distribution of education funding is among the most inequitable in the U.S., rural instructional expenditures and instructional staff salary expenditures are low, and performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress lags behind both the national average and that of bordering states.