ESEA's Effect on Rural Areas, ELLs, Spec. Ed. Eyed

School administrators and policy analysts are calling attention to the needs of students in rural districts, as well as English-language learners and students with disabilities, as Congress begins the process of reauthorizing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act.

Daniel D. Curry, the superintendent of the 4,000-student Kent County, Del., school district, told lawmakers at a March 18 House Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary and Secondary Education hearing that shifting from formula funding to more competitive funding, as the Obama administration proposes in an ESEA plan released March 13, would harm rural schools. With central-office staffs often composed of only a handful of people, rural districts lack the capacity to compete, he said, as well as the money in the current economy...