NCLB REPORT PRAISES COLLINS INITIATED RURAL EDUCATION PROGRAM, SUPPORTS INCREASED ASSISTANCE FOR RURAL SCHOOLS

Washington, DC – A recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office found that the Rural Education Achievement Program (REAP) has "been of great assistance" in helping rural school districts meet their education goals, particularly those established by Maine Learning Results under the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) initiative. Senator Susan Collins authored the legislation that created REAP. She also requested the report to study the impact that NCLB has on rural schools and the specific challenges that they face.

"REAP was designed to help level the playing field for small and high poverty rural school systems. The program provided Maine with more than $3.6 million this year, to help rural school districts that would otherwise not have access to the additional dollars through federal grants," said Senator Collins. "Rural communities may have more difficulty than urban and suburban school districts in complying with the new educational standards because they often have far fewer resources. This study confirms that we must continue to provide rural school districts with assistance in order to meet their education goals and to ensure that their students have access to the same quality learning opportunities."

The report concluded that many rural school districts need additional assistance from the U.S. Department of Education in order to address unique challenges, such as declining populations, a lack of technology and community resources, limited sources of revenue, transportation costs, and concerns with the highly qualified teacher requirements for educators teaching multiple core subjects. The report recommends that the Secretary of Education provide additional flexibility and assistance to states on approaches small rural districts can use to implement student proficiency provisions and teacher qualification requirements.

"Over the past year, I have met with dozens of school officials in Maine to discuss their thoughts about the state's plan to comply with provisions of No Child Left Behind. In addition, Senator Snowe and I created a statewide task force to closely examine the law''s effect on Maine''s school districts and to make recommendations to Congress," said Senator Collins. "I have heard good things about several programs created by legislation that I authored, including REAP and the Reading First initiative. However, I share concerns of some about a few of the requirements of NCLB. For example, the law requires that all schools and subgroups achieve a 100 percent proficiency requirement by 2013. This requirement may not take into account the circumstances of rural schools with very limited resources or of schools that have a high population of students with special needs."

Senator Collins said that this report and the task force are positive steps toward addressing those important issues. "The Department of Education has made changes to the regulations in response to problems that have arisen during implementation," she added. "I support continued efforts to maximize the flexibility currently available under the law, particularly for rural school districts. NCLB will be reauthorized sometime during the next Congress and we will have an opportunity to make statutory changes for problems that that cannot be addressed through regulation or modifications to the state plan."