Chapter 6: Funding School Infrastructure in Rural America

Providing a comparable physical environment to children schooled in communities with small populations or to those living in areas isolated from larger population centers typically is costlier than in other settings. For rural schools, the problem is particularly complex. School facilities in rural areas are usually older and in worse condition than those in non-rural areas, but, at the same time, rural school districts have less property wealth upon which to draw for financing infrastructure needs through bonded indebtedness. To exacerbate the problem, few states provide significant fiscal support for school infrastructure. Taken together, the data presented in this chapter suggest a significant and growing crisis in infrastructure funding needs in rural school districts. While additional research on the diseconomy of scale rural schools face in financing infrastructure is clearly needed, it is incumbent upon states to create more adequate and equitable school infrastructure funding systems for all children, regardless of geographic location.