What are the needs of rural towns and schools? Primary sources below.
Small districts receive insufficient state aid due to under-calculated operating costs.
Districts with 1,300 or fewer students cost 16.7% more per pupil to operate than the state average.
Small K-12 regional districts cost 22.7% more per pupil to operate than larger ones.
These differences were not accounted for in the Student Opportunity Act (updates to Chapter 70 state educational aid) that was passed in 2019.
School districts that have experienced significant enrollment decline remain saddled with high per-pupil legacy costs.
From 2012 to 2020, rural districts lost 13.9% of their enrollment compared to 0.5% statewide.
The districts with the greatest enrollment decline have employee and retirement benefit costs 34.1% higher than the state average.
Rural schools are caught in a downward cycle of reduced enrollment, reduced funding and diminished educational experiences.
Over time, course offerings, student support services and extracurricular activities have been substantially reduced in rural schools due to underfunding.
In some cases, these programmatic reductions have driven students to seek alternative programs of education.
Rural towns have relatively remote locations that have isolated them from the economic opportunities enjoyed by much of the state.
As a result, small town governments must fund increasingly higher proportions of their school budgets from an insufficient and stagnant tax base.
Which schools are rural? Click here for a list of districts and how much Rural Aid each received in FY24, when Rural Aid was funded at $15 million, and a separate tab of towns belonging to those districts. To qualify, a school must serve fewer than 35 students per square mile in a district with a per capita income below state average.
The Rural Schools Bill⟶
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Sources
“The Rural Schools Report”— A Sustainable Future for Rural Schools by the Commission on the Fiscal Health of Rural School Districts, July 2022
Public Infrastructure in Western Massachusetts: A Critical Need for Regional Investment and Revitalization by State Auditor Suzanne Bump, October 2021
Final Report by the Special Commission on Improving Efficiencies Relative to Student Transportation, December 2020
Fiscal Conditions in Rural School Districts by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, January, 2018
Supporting Student and Community Success: Updating the Structure and Finance of Massachusetts Regional School Districts by State Auditor Suzanne Bump, October 2017