"The REAP program takes into account the best interests of our children and our schools," said Senator Collins. "Rural schools throughout Maine face unique and difficult challenges in meeting requirements of the No Child Left Behind Act and this funding recognizes the need to promote them with additional help."
Senator Collins's Rural Education Achievement Program will target funding to school districts with fewer than 600 students in rural communities. More than 35 percent of all school districts in the United States have 600 or fewer students. In Maine, the percentage is even higher: 56 percent of our 284 school districts have fewer than 600 students.
Many federal formula grants often do not reach small, rural schools in amounts sufficient to achieve the goals of various federal programs. These grants are often based on school district enrollment, and, therefore, smaller districts may not receive enough funding from any single grant to carry out a meaningful activity. One Maine district, for example, received a whopping $28 to fund a district-wide Safe and Drug-free School program. This amount is certainly not sufficient to achieve the goal of that federal program, yet the school district could not use the funds for any other program.
To give school districts more flexibility to meet local needs, this legislation allows rural districts to combine the funds from four categorical programs and use them to address the school district''s highest priorities. Examples included the support of teacher recruitment and retention programs, teacher professional development programs, supporting educational technology, creating parental involvement activities, funding safe and drug free school programs, or for use towards integrating and ensuring success of immigrants and bilingual students.