Federal data show that many school districts in the Midwest, West, and Great Plains will be given extra years to meet teacher-quality requirements under the No Child Left Behind Act. Most rural districts in those states meet the definition of “rural” cited in the regulations. In contrast, most rural and small-town districts in the Southeast will not receive the extension. Here’s a sampling of how different states are affected by the regulations.
| West/Midwest | Extension-Eligible Districts | Ineligible Districts |
| Illinois | 276 | 28 |
| Iowa | 164 | 0 |
| Kansas | 164 | 8 |
| Michigan | 138 | 20 |
| Minnesota | 134 | 4 |
| Missouri | 255 | 82 |
| Montana | 375 | 17 |
| Nebraska | 440 | 0 |
| North Dakota | 186 | 2 |
| Ohio | 45 | 36 |
| Oklahoma | 348 | 130 |
| South Dakota | 135 | 1 |
| Texas | 523 | 106 |
| Wisconsin | 129 | 3 |
| Southeast | ||
| Alabama | 0 | 58 |
| Florida | 1 | 23 |
| Georgia | 8 | 87 |
| Kentucky | 10 | 74 |
| Louisiana | 4 | 38 |
| Mississippi | 8 | 98 |
| North Carolina | 27 | 42 |
| South Carolina | 0 | 29 |
| Tennessee | 3 | 43 |
| Virginia | 4 | 17 |
| West Virginia | 1 | 36 |
SOURCE: Rural School and Community Trust, with data from the U.S. Department of Education