THE IMPORTANCE OF RURAL EDUCATION -- HON. BILL BARRETT (Extensions of Remarks - March 14, 2000)

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HON. BILL BARRETT OF NEBRASKA IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Tuesday, March 14, 2000

Mr. BARRETT of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, as a member of the Rural Caucus, I would like to share my strong support for one of the most vibrant sectors of rural America--our rural schools. Out in my part of the country, schools, along with churches, are at the heart of a community. And, rural administrators, teachers, and school boards should be commended for the educational opportunities they work to offer rural school students.

Rural schools offer students the types of educational experiences we hope all students can have--small classes, quality basic academic programs, personal relationships with teachers and administrators, hands-on vocational education opportunities, and the chance to participate in a variety of quality extracurricular activities. In fact, more than 20 percent of students in this country attend small, rural schools. Rural schools in my district have done an exceptional job maximizing learning opportunities for their students by investing in distance learning technology, forming educational service units to offer special education and gifted and talented programs, and holding themselves accountable, not only to the federal government and to the state, but, most importantly, to parents.

When I consider excellent rural schools in my district, several examples come to mind. For instance, I think of the one-room Kindergarten through 6th grade Macon School in the tiny village of Macon, Nebraska, where students receive one-on-one attention in basic academic areas and the arts. From the first grade on, every student at the Macon School receives individual piano lessons from their teacher, Mrs. Johnson; writes plays, songs, and poems; and performs original programs to packed houses of family and friends. There aren't too many one-room schools left, but the Macon School is an example of how tiny rural schools can offer their students more enriching experiences than larger schools may be able to offer.

Rural schools also work together to keep their standards high. Schools like Franklin and Hildreth, Nebraska, have invested in state-of-the-art distance learning facilities so foreign language, advanced math, and other advanced courses can be available to all students, regardless of the size of their school or the distance between the teacher and the students. This year, these schools banded together to hire an exchange teacher, Cristina Bermejo, from Spain to teach Spanish. This teacher is physically located in the Franklin school, but her courses are beamed via two-way audio-video connection to Hildreth.

Because of their size and location, many schools in our rural areas are able to reach out to underserved and at-risk populations, like the Santee School in Santee, Nebraska. Led by a dedicated superintendent, Chuck Squire, the Santee School works to empower children from the Santee tribe and helps them gain the skills they need for the 21st Century workplace.

These are just a few examples of the high quality educational experiences students in rural school districts benefit. But, while there are certainly many benefits to rural education, there are also some real challenges facing rural schools. One is the difficulty of attracting teachers to work in far-flung school districts, especially in fields like foreign language, music, advanced math, and science. Recently, many schools in Nebraska have started offering signing bonuses to draw teachers to their schools.

In addition to staffing issues, federal funding formulas have not addressed the unique funding needs of these districts. The problem is that not all schools are created equal. Bigger schools have an advantage when it comes to attracting federal funds and resources. By their very nature, small, rural schools have their own strong points, as I have mentioned, but they struggle, nearly always, for needed funding. All current federal education formula grants unintentionally ignore small, rural schools by not producing enough revenue for rural schools to carry out the program the grant is intended to fund. To address this problem, together with Mr. Pomeroy, I introduced a bill, H.R. 2725, the Rural Education Initiative Act, which was later incorporated into the reauthorization package for the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) and passed by the House last October.

This program is completely optional, but if a school district chooses to participate, the rural provisions will allow a small, rural school district with fewer than 600 students and located in a community with a Beale Code of 6, 7, 8, or 9 (the Beale Code is a measure used by the USDA to determine ruralness) to combine its federal education dollars in selected programs.

Small schools qualifying for this program would have the option to apply for a flexible lump-sum in place of funds from federal education formula grants. While federal education formula grants normally include strict rules for how they must be used, schools receiving the lump-sum grant could make their own decisions about how to use the money. For example, they could use the money to support local education and to improve student achievement or the quality of instruction. In exchange for this flexibility, school districts would have to meet high accountability standards.

When I've been in my congressional district, I have heard from many rural school administrators who have told me that this particular provision will help them serve their students even better. They can't wait for this provision to become law so rural America's students will be able to benefit from the same types of programs as their urban and suburban counterparts.

This provision has broad bipartisan support and more than 80 endorsements from education organizations across the country. It provides a commonsense approach to using federal dollars in the way Congress intended--to insure that all students, regardless of their background, have the opportunity to receive a high quality education.

As the ESEA reauthorization efforts continue during this session of Congress, I look forward to helping this provision and others designed to strengthen rural school districts become law. I am pleased that the Rural Caucus is taking a step forward to highlight some of the issues facing rural America, including rural education.
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