Rural Advocates Fight for Local Schools

In recent months, new and old advocacy organizations in the rural areas of several states have fought for better funding for local community schools.

Parents' Campaign in Mississippi

In Mississippi, a new advocacy organization called The Parents' Campaign is trying to "mobilize parents to lobby for full education funding." The organization was launched in June and hopes to have 50,000 network members by the time the new legislative session begins in January 2007.

The goal of The Parents' Campaign is to mobilize parents to push the legislature to support public education, first and foremost by providing full funding for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program (MAEP), a funding formula passed in 1997 but which has not been fully funded in any year except 2003. Currently, MAEP is underfunded by $120 million, according to the Jackson Clarion Ledger, and the Parents' Campaign hopes to change that in 2007. The Campaign plans to keep parents educated and informed about school funding and other public education issues, let parents know how to contact their legislators, and report to voters how legislators have voted on education issues.

Two Advocacy Efforts in Arkansas

Two separate efforts are being made to help schools in Arkansas. From August 25-27, the Arkansas Citizens First Congress held its second convention of the year. The congress is a coalition of over 50 grassroots community groups that works with community activists to create legislative agendas and lobbies for those agendas. The congress comprises a variety of advocacy organizations, and their top priorities include agricultural issues, public education, and tax reform. The primary purpose of the August conference was to finalize the 2007 legislative agenda. One of the main educational issues discussed was the racial and socio-economic achievement gap. The keynote address, delivered by Rebecca Jacobsen of Teachers College and the Economic Policy Institute, was entitled, "Thinking Beyond the Classroom: Reforms to Close the Achievement Gap," in which she discussed health care, housing, and other issues' impacts on the achievement gap.

In July, Advocates for Community and Rural Education (ACRE), a community organization that works to improve rural schools, launched its Quality Schools Initiative. ACRE's goal is to get citizens involved at both the local and state levels in order to identify rural schools that are threatened by fiscal problems, academic problems, or school closings, and to take steps to save those schools.

Ballot Initiative in Idaho

In Idaho, the Invest in Our Kids' Education campaign is supporting an initiative on the November ballot – the Idaho Local Public Schools Investment Act Initiative. The Initiative would raise the sales tax in Idaho by one percent and put all of the revenue (an estimated $210 million) from the increase into a new "Idaho Local Public Schools Investment Fund," which could only be used for funding public schools. This spring, Invest in Our Kids' Education collected the 50,000 signatures required to put the measure on the ballot as Proposition 1.

On August 25, however, the legislature met in a special session to pass a tax reform plan proposed by Governor Jim Risch that cut $260 million of property taxes designated for education funding and replaced the money with a one percent sales tax increase and part of the state's budget surplus. In this context, if Proposition 1 passes it would require the legislature to find $210 million to add to the education budget without cutting any crucial services. Invest in Our Kids fears that simply switching a portion of school funding from a property tax – which is specifically dedicated to school funding – to a sales tax – which is a less stable source of revenue and would also be subject to the Legislature's discretion – puts school funding at risk. Idaho currently near the bottom among the states in per-pupil expenditures, according to the NCES.

Success for Rural Advocates in Nebraska

Grassroots advocacy was instrumental in defeating a school funding bill in Nebraska that would have hurt rural schools. The bill, LB 129, would have changed the state school finance formula to shift funding away from rural districts. A strong grassroots campaign led by the Nebraska Coalition for Educational Equity and Adequacy put pressure on the legislature to reject the bill, and LB 129 died in committee when the legislative session ended in April, 2006.

Fighting School Closings in Maine and West Virginia

Small rural schools in Maine are concerned about Maine's funding formula, which is pressuring small schools to make possibly unsustainable budget cuts. A prominent example of opposition to the funding formula came in February, when parents and community members from the town of Columbia Falls participated in a 128-mile, five-day march to the state Capitol in Augusta and held a rally on the State House steps. The school funding formula released by Maine's Department of Education reduces by $313,000 the amount of state funding that their district will receive for the 2006-07 school year. Without enough state funding, the district says it might be forced to close schools. Parents and school boards are pushing legislators to revise the formula by the 2007-2008 academic year.

Where schools in rural districts are closed, children face the potential for extremely long bus rides. This is particularly a concern for the advocacy organization Challenge West Virginia, which notes that West Virginia spends almost seven percent of its education budget – more than any other state – on busing. Challenge West Virginia advocated strongly this year for H.B. 4040, a bill that would have required voter approval for closure or consolidation of certain schools. While the bill passed the House of Delegates by a 93-3 vote, the measure died in the Senate. Challenge West Virginia plans to continue the fight in the next legislative session.

Prepared by Matthew Samberg, August 30, 2006