This story is about Texas, but it could have been about rural schools almost everywhere. For Iowa, the governor (Kim Reynolds) is doing her best to kill rural public schools as she supports $7000 per child to be sent to families who send their kids to private schools or to home-school them (no standards required!). This is a deliberate attack on rural families. Why? …it’s a math issue. Iowa has 99 counties; fewer than 20 of these counties are considered urban. 99 minus 19 = 80 counties. Nine of Iowa’s 15 private schools are in cities; six tiny schools are in rural areas, with at least one functioning only in the summer. Then consider Texas, e.g., “Fort Davis is the seat of Jeff Davis County, whose population of 1,900 is spread among 2,265 square miles, 50 percent bigger than Rhode Island.”
MY RURAL AMERICA’s rule: Every time public money is taken from public schools and sent to private, it means rural kids will ride the bus for more hours. Kids that ride the bus for longer and longer periods are tired before they even get to school.