Loebsack met with Central Lee School administrators and staff, in Donnellson on Friday, as part of a series of roundtables throughout Iowa to discuss his legislation, Restructuring Under-utilized Resources for Advancing Learning (RURAL).
Loebsack says that, “the RURAL Act will provide necessary support for rural schools.”
Central Lee School Superintendent John Hendrickson spoke up about some of the challenges unique to rural schools, “Our cost of transporting a child is a little more than double the average. And you can pay for a bus out of a Physical Plant and Equipment Levy but, to repair that bus, to pay for the driver, to pay for the fuel, all of that comes from operating funds, and so when your double and triple the average it makes a big difference.”
Another challenge unique to rural school’s is the lack of high-speed internet service. Central Lee staff talked about the frustration of such limitations not only within the school building but in student homes as well. Loebsack responded by explaining the Federal Communication Commission’s Connect America Fund, a $53.2 million broadband internet expansion from the Branstad-Reynolds administration that will expand in the next couple of years, broadband internet service across Iowa to nearly 90,000 homes.
Loebsack says the reason he is introducing the RURAL Act is because according the the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly one-quarter of all public school students attend school in rural areas, among these students, one-quarter are living in poverty. Rural schools also have fewer financial resources, resulting in teacher recruitment and retention challenges, digital learning barriers, and a lack of quility after-school programs.
The RURAL Act would establish a competitive grant program to implement and evaluate the results of technology-based learning practices, a grant program to improve expanded learning time programs, including after school programs and provide tax incentives for teachers and administrators in rural or high poverty areas.
While these grants may not address the all the unique challenges of rural schools, like the more than double the average of transportation expanses, the Act if passed will also establish an office of Rural Education Policy within the Department of Education. The Office of Rural Education Policy will advice the Secretary of Education on the characteristics and needs of rural schools when proposing and implementing policies, allowing for the unique needs of rural schools to be better addressed. Loebsack says that while the RURAL Act would create a new department within the Department of Education more tax payer dollars will not be used to fund it, instead the Department of Education would shift the federal funding available for education.
For more information on the Federal Communication Commission’s Connect America Fund visit:
High-Speed Broadband Expansion to Nearly 90,000 Homes Across Iowa
