Tennessee’s governor wants to give more money to rural schools. But what does ‘rural’ mean?

Gov. Bill Lee plans to reveal the final draft of a new school funding model next Thursday, and one key difference might mean extra money for rural schools.

But what, exactly, does that mean? The state will first need to agree on a definition.

“It’s hard to get a general definition across the state,” says Dr. Allen Pratt, the president of the National Rural Education Association. “That’s going to be the challenge. What’s the most impactful? What’s the best thing we can do that’s going to make sure the dollars are equitably distributed across the different rural districts across the state?”

Rural areas can differ in population, density, geographic size, proximity to cities and access to services. Like many states, Tennessee has often relied on the federal government’s criteria to determine what’s rural. But even then, Pratt says, there are roughly over 40 definitions to choose from.

Lee plans to replace Tennessee’s longtime funding formula for schools, known as the Basic Education Program, with a new plan called the Tennessee Investment in Student Achievement formula. The Lee administration says it will better meet the needs of individual students.

Over the past few months, Pratt and a group of school superintendents, lawmakers and others have been working with the Tennessee Department of Education to create a state-specific definition of rural that would reflect Tennessee’s unique landscape and capture areas that federal definitions may leave out.

The most commonly used definition is from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which looks at the distance away from a city. But Pratt says that definition isn’t helpful to  Tennessee because some rural districts are relatively near suburban or urban areas.

“Other factors that weigh into this are going to be big,” Pratt says.

Tennessee has the fifth-largest rural population

According to a 2018-2019 report from the Rural School and Community Trust, nearly 300,000 students in Tennessee go to rural schools, making the state home to the fifth-largest rural school population in the country. And yet, the state’s rural districts have seen the biggest drop in state contributions for every local dollar invested in their schools.

The report also ranked the state near the bottom when it comes to average salaries for rural educators.

A new funding formula may help alleviate the financial burdens related to transportation, teacher recruitment and internet access, though dollar amounts have yet to be addressed.

Among the subcommittee’s recommendations include proximity to urban areas, school and district enrollment, town size, geographic challenges and local fiscal capacity like the county’s tax base and amount of debt.

Pratt’s group, known as the rural and small district subcommittee, also recommended that extra funding go toward sparse districts, where students live further away from each other. Those areas tend to have even greater financial challenges because they need to open more schools, hire more staff or spend more on transportation.

Subcommittee member Lillian Hartgrove engages with superintendents from rural districts as a member of the State Board of Education. She says she regularly hears about challenges with funding. 

“Rural districts are working very hard. They’re working diligently to provide the best education for their students,” says Hartgrove. “I believe they often feel that there’s more that they could do if they had additional funding.”