Help End Federal Discrimination Against Rural and Small Schools
Congress and the Obama Administration are now considering the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, which is currently known as the No Child Left Behind Act.
Title I is the centerpiece of this legislation. It provides federal funding to school districts to help meet the educational needs of disadvantaged students, primarily those living in poverty. At nearly $14.5 billion, it is by far the largest source of federal funds for public schools. Moreover, the Title I formula for distributing these funds among school districts is also used to distribute other federal funds to schools.
The Title I formula is very complex. It results in sharply different levels of funding for each disadvantaged student from state-to-state and from district-to-district. This formula has not been seriously re-examined since 1994.
A key provision called "number weighting" plays a major role in directing more money to about 550 large districts and away from over 10,700 smaller districts, many with higher poverty rates than the larger districts.
Congress and the Obama Administration should live up to their commitment to equal educational opportunity by ending federal discrimination against rural and small schools under Title I.
Urge them to do so by signing a petition to Congressional education leaders and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan.
