Today's Dilemmas
For much of this century, rural schools have faced problems associated with geographic isolation, small size, lack of sufficient resources, and difficulties in retaining teachers. The most typical response at the state level has been to call for more consolidation.

Even with the consolidations of the past decade in North Dakota, three out of four schools are located in rural areas, and more than 41% of all students attend small rural schools. North Dakota ranks among the top 6 states in which rural education is most important to the state’s overall educational performance.

North Dakota ranks 10th in the country for rural poverty. According to “Why Rural Matters 2005”, poverty challenges our state and is identified as the “arch-enemy of student achievement”.

The bad news is that :

• North Dakota’s per capita expenditure for instruction is low,
• There is significant inequity in state and local funding for rural schools
• North Dakota schools spend high proportions of their annual budgets on transportation  –  5.9% compared to the average for rural schools nationwide of 4.3%.

The good news in North Dakota ranks near the median nationally, primarily because

• ND has decent policy outcomes
• Student teacher ratios are low
• Graduation rates are high.

 

Rapid changes in technology, combined with more accurate studies of rural school characteristics have paved the way for a variety of options other than consolidation that may help increase cost efficiency while strengthening educational quality.