II 

113TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1096 

To establish an Office of Rural Education Policy in the Department of 

Education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 4, 2013 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, and Ms. COLLINS) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

A BILL 

To establish an Office of Rural Education Policy in the 

Department of Education. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Office of Rural Edu5 cation Policy Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

7 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) The Secretary of Education has recognized 

9 that ‘‘[r]ural schools have unique challenges and 

10 benefits’’, but a recent report by the Rural School 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 1096 IS

1 and Community Trust refers to the ‘‘paucity of rural 

2 education research in the United States’’. 

3 (2) Rural education is becoming an increasingly 

4 large and important part of the United States public 

5 school system. According to the Digest of Education 

6 Statistics reported annually by the National Center 

7 for Education Statistics, the number of students at8 tending rural schools increased by more than 11 per9 cent, from 10,500,000 to nearly 11,700,000, be10 tween the 2004–2005 and 2008–2009 school years. 

11 The share of the Nation’s public school enrollment 

12 attending rural schools increased from 21.6 percent 

13 to 23.8 percent. In school year 2008–2009, these 

14 students attended 31,635 rural schools, nearly one15 third of all schools in the United States. 

16 (3) Despite the overall growth of rural edu17 cation, rural students represent a demographic mi18 nority in all but 3 States, according to the National 

19 Center for Education Statistics. 

20 (4) Rural education is becoming increasingly di21 verse. According to the National Center for Edu22 cation Statistics, the increase in rural enrollment be23 tween the 2004–2005 and 2008–2009 school years 

24 was disproportionally among students of color. En25 rollment of children of color in rural schools inVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:03 Jun 06, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1096.IS S1096

jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 1096 IS

1 creased by 31 percent, and the proportion of stu2 dents enrolled in rural schools who are children of 

3 color increased from 23.0 to 26.5 percent. More 

4 than one-third of rural students in 12 States are 

5 children of color, according to research by the Rural 

6 School and Community Trust (Why Rural Matters 

7 2009). 

8 (5) Rural education is varied and diverse across 

9 the Nation. In school year 2007–2008, the national 

10 average rate of student poverty in rural school dis11 tricts, as measured by the rate of participation in 

12 federally subsidized meals programs, was 39.1 per13 cent, but ranged from 9.7 percent in Connecticut to 

14 71.9 percent in New Mexico, according to the Na15 tional Center for Education Statistics. 

16 (6) Even policy measures intended to help rural 

17 schools can have unintended consequences. In 

18 awarding competitive grants under the Investing in 

19 Innovation Fund program under section 14007 of 

20 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

21 2009 (Public Law 111–5), the Secretary of Edu22 cation attempted to encourage and support rural ap23 plicants by providing additional points for proposals 

24 to serve at least 1 rural local educational agency. 

25 But according to research by the Rural School and 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 1096 IS

1 Community Trust (Taking Advantage, 2010), this 

2 ‘‘rural preference’’ mainly had the effect of inducing 

3 urban applicants to include rural participation mere4 ly in order to gain additional scoring points for pri5 marily urban projects. 

6 (7) Rural schools generally utilize distance edu7 cation more often for both students and teachers. A 

8 fall 2008 survey of public schools by the National 

9 Center for Education Statistics found that rural 

schools were 11 10 ⁄2 times more likely to provide stu11 dents access for online distance learning than 

12 schools in cities. A September 2004 study from the 

13 Government Accountability Office reported that 

14 rural school districts used distance learning for 

15 teacher training more often than non-rural school 

16 districts. 

17 (8) The National Center for Education Statis18 tics reports that base salaries of both the lowest and 

19 highest paid teachers are lower in rural schools than 

20 any other community type. 

21 (b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are— 

22 (1) to establish an Office of Rural Education 

23 Policy in the Department of Education; and 

24 (2) to provide input to the Secretary of Edu25 cation regarding the impact of proposed changes in 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 1096 IS

1 law, regulations, policies, rules, and budgets on rural 

2 schools and communities. 

3 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF RURAL EDUCATION 

4 POLICY. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title II of the Department of 

6 Education Organization Act (20 U.S.C. 3411 et seq.) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 221. OFFICE OF RURAL EDUCATION POLICY. 

9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—There shall be, in the Office of 

10 Elementary and Secondary Education of the Department, 

11 an Office of Rural Education Policy (referred to in this 

12 section as the ‘Office’). 

13 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR; DUTIES.— 

14 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Office shall be headed 

15 by a Director, who shall advise the Secretary on the 

16 characteristics and needs of rural schools and the ef17 fects of current policies and proposed statutory, reg18 ulatory, administrative, and budgetary changes on 

19 State educational agencies, and local educational 

20 agencies, that serve schools with a locale code of 32, 

21 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary. 

22 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL DUTIES OF THE DIRECTOR.— 

23 In addition to advising the Secretary with respect to 

24 the matters described in paragraph (1), the Director 

25 of the Office of Rural Education Policy (referred to 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 1096 IS

1 in this section as the ‘Director’), through the Office, 

2 shall— 

3 ‘‘(A) establish and maintain a clearing4 house for collecting and disseminating informa5 tion on— 

6 ‘‘(i) teacher and principal recruitment 

7 and retention at rural elementary schools 

8 and rural secondary schools; 

9 ‘‘(ii) access to, and implementation 

10 and use of, technology and distance learn11 ing at such schools; 

12 ‘‘(iii) rigorous coursework delivery 

13 through distance learning at such schools; 

14 ‘‘(iv) student achievement at such 

15 schools, including the achievement of low16 income and minority students; 

17 ‘‘(v) innovative approaches in rural 

18 education to increase student achievement; 

19 ‘‘(vi) higher education and career 

20 readiness and secondary school completion 

21 of students enrolled in such schools; 

22 ‘‘(vii) access to, and quality of, early 

23 childhood development for children located 

24 in rural areas; 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
7 

•S 1096 IS

1 ‘‘(viii) access to, or partnerships with, 

2 community-based organizations in rural 

3 areas; 

4 ‘‘(ix) the availability of professional 

5 development opportunities for rural teach6 ers and principals; 

7 ‘‘(x) the availability of Federal and 

8 other grants and assistance that are spe9 cifically geared or applicable to rural 

10 schools; and 

11 ‘‘(xi) the financing of such schools; 

12 ‘‘(B) identify innovative research and dem13 onstration projects on topics of importance to 

14 rural elementary schools and rural secondary 

15 schools, including gaps in such research, and 

16 recommend such topics for study by the Insti17 tute of Education Sciences and other research 

18 agencies; 

19 ‘‘(C) coordinate the activities within the 

20 Department that relate to rural education; 

21 ‘‘(D) provide information to the Secretary 

22 and others in the Department with respect to 

23 the activities of other Federal departments and 

24 agencies that relate to rural education, includ25 ing activities relating to rural housing, rural agVerDate Mar 15 2010 01:03 Jun 06, 2013 Jkt 029200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1096.IS S1096

jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
8 

•S 1096 IS

1 ricultural services, rural transportation, rural 

2 economic development, rural career and tech3 nical training, rural health care, rural disability 

4 services, and rural mental health; 

5 ‘‘(E) coordinate with the Bureau of Indian 

6 Education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 

7 Department of the Interior, and the schools ad8 ministered by such agencies regarding rural 

9 education; 

10 ‘‘(F) provide, directly or through grants, 

11 cooperative agreements, or contracts, technical 

12 assistance and other activities as necessary to 

13 support activities related to improving edu14 cation in rural areas; and 

15 ‘‘(G) produce an annual report on the con16 dition of rural education that is delivered to the 

17 members of the Education and the Workforce 

18 Committee of the House of Representatives and 

19 the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

20 Committee of the Senate and published on the 

21 Department’s Web site. 

22 ‘‘(c) IMPACT ANALYSES OF RULES AND REGULA23 TIONS ON RURAL SCHOOLS.— 

24 ‘‘(1) PROPOSED RULEMAKING.—Whenever the 

25 Secretary publishes a general notice of proposed 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
9 

•S 1096 IS

1 rulemaking for any rule or regulation that may have 

2 a significant impact on State educational agencies or 

3 local educational agencies serving schools with a lo4 cale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by 

5 the Secretary, the Secretary (acting through the Di6 rector) shall prepare and make available for public 

7 comment an initial regulatory impact analysis. Such 

8 analysis shall describe the impact of the proposed 

9 rule or regulation on such State educational agencies 

10 and local educational agencies and shall set forth, 

11 with respect to such agencies, the matters required 

12 under section 603 of title 5, United States Code, to 

13 be set forth with respect to small entities. The initial 

14 regulatory impact analysis (or a summary) shall be 

15 published in the Federal Register at the time of the 

16 publication of general notice of proposed rulemaking 

17 for the rule or regulation. 

18 ‘‘(2) FINAL RULE.—Whenever the Secretary 

19 promulgates a final version of a rule or regulation 

20 with respect to which an initial regulatory impact 

21 analysis is required by paragraph (1), the Secretary 

22 (acting through the Director) shall prepare a final 

23 regulatory impact analysis with respect to the final 

24 version of such rule or regulation. Such analysis 

25 shall set forth, with respect to State educational 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
10 

•S 1096 IS

1 agencies and local educational agencies serving 

2 schools with a locale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, 

3 as determined by the Secretary, the matters required 

4 under section 604 of title 5, United States Code, to 

5 be set forth with respect to small entities. The Sec6 retary shall make copies of the final regulatory im7 pact analysis available to the public and shall pub8 lish, in the Federal Register at the time of publica9 tion of the final version of the rule or regulation, a 

10 statement describing how a member of the public 

11 may obtain a copy of such analysis. 

12 ‘‘(3) REGULATORY FLEXIBILITY ANALYSIS.—If 

13 a regulatory flexibility analysis is required by chap14 ter 6 of title 5, United States Code, for a rule or 

15 regulation to which this subsection applies, such 

16 analysis shall specifically address the impact of the 

17 rule or regulation on State educational agencies and 

18 local educational agencies serving schools with a lo19 cale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by 

20 the Secretary.’’. 

21 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 221(c) of the De22 partment of Education Organization Act, as added by sub23 section (a), shall apply to regulations proposed more than 

24 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS