A $5.4 million cut to federal aid for rural schools is expected to cost Montana approximately $400,000 in funding.
A $5.4 million cut to federal aid for rural schools is expected to cost Montana approximately $400,000 in funding.
A $5.4 million cut to federal aid for rural schools is expected to cost Montana approximately $400,000 in funding.
The federal aid being cut would otherwise go to the Rural Low-Income Schools program. The program offers aid with the goal of improving student achievement and is in addition to other federal funding received by Montana schools.
Montana Rural Education Association director Dennis Parman said the federal aid is usually used by schools to provide programming they couldn’t otherwise fund, such as after school programming.
While overall funding was decreased for the program, some states will receive more this year than last, while Montana and other states are expected to see a decrease.
In the 2019 fiscal year, Montana received approximately $798,000 from the program.
Some states are expected to lose an even larger portion of their previous funding compared to Montana. In Iowa, the projected aid is only 30% of the last fiscal year.
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