II 

112TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 946 

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

Education. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MAY 11, 2011 

Mr. BAUCUS (for himself, Mr. ROCKEFELLER, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. LEAHY, Mr. 

SANDERS, Mr. JOHNSON of South Dakota, Mr. BENNET, Mr. UDALL of 

Colorado, Mr. FRANKEN, and Mr. CONRAD) 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 


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

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

3 education research in the United States’’. 

4 (2) Rural education is becoming an increasingly 

5 large and important part of the United States public 

6 school system. According to the Digest of Education 

7 Statistics reported annually by the National Center 

8 for Education Statistics, the number of students at9 tending rural schools increased by more than 11 per10 cent, from 10,500,000 to nearly 11,700,000, be11 tween the 2004–2005 and 2008–2009 school years. 

12 The share of the Nation’s public school enrollment 

13 attending rural schools increased from 21.6 percent 

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

15 students attended 31,635 rural schools, nearly one16 third of all schools in the United States. 

17 (3) Despite the overall growth of rural edu18 cation, rural students represent a demographic mi19 nority in all but 3 States, according to the National 

20 Center for Education Statistics. 

21 (4) Rural education is becoming increasingly di22 verse. According to the National Center for Edu23 cation Statistics, the increase in rural enrollment be24 tween the 2004–2005 and 2008–2009 school years 

25 was disproportionally among students of color. EnVerDate Mar 15 2010 04:16 May 13, 2011 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S946.IS S946

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1 rollment of children of color in rural schools in2 creased by 31 percent, and the proportion of stu3 dents enrolled in rural schools who are children of 

4 color increased from 23.0 to 26.5 percent. More 

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

6 children of color, according to research by the Rural 

7 School and Community Trust (Why Rural Matters 

8 2009). 

9 (5) Rural education is varied and diverse across 

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

11 average rate of student poverty in rural school dis12 tricts, as measured by the rate of participation in 

13 federally subsidized meals programs, was 39.1 per14 cent, but ranged from 9.7 percent in Connecticut to 

15 71.9 percent in New Mexico, according to the Na16 tional Center for Education Statistics. 

17 (6) Even policy measures intended to help rural 

18 schools can have unintended consequences. In 

19 awarding competitive grants under the Investing in 

20 Innovation Fund program under section 14007 of 

21 the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 

22 2009 (Public Law 111–5), the Secretary of Edu23 cation attempted to encourage and support rural ap24 plicants by providing additional points for proposals 

25 to serve at least 1 rural local educational agency. 


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1 But according to research by the Rural School and 

2 Community Trust (Taking Advantage, 2010), this 

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

4 urban applicants to include rural participation mere5 ly in order to gain additional scoring points for pri6 marily urban projects. 

7 (7) Rural schools generally utilize distance edu8 cation more often for both students and teachers. A 

9 fall 2008 survey of public schools by the National 

10 Center for Education Statistics found that rural 

schools were 11 11 ⁄2 times more likely to provide stu12 dents access for online distance learning than 

13 schools in cities. A September 2004 study from the 

14 Government Accountability Office reported that 

15 rural school districts used distance learning for 

16 teacher training more often than non-rural school 

17 districts. 

18 (8) The National Center for Education Statis19 tics reports that base salaries of both the lowest and 

20 highest paid teachers are lower in rural schools than 

21 any other community type. 

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

23 (1) to establish an Office of Rural Education 

24 Policy in the Department of Education; and 


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1 (2) to provide input to the Secretary of Edu2 cation regarding the impact of proposed changes in 

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

4 schools and communities. 

5 SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF OFFICE OF RURAL EDUCATION 

6 POLICY. 

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

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

9 amended by adding at the end the following: 

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

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

12 Elementary and Secondary Education of the Department, 

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

14 section as the ‘Office’). 

15 ‘‘(b) DIRECTOR; DUTIES.— 

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

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

18 characteristics and needs of rural schools and the ef19 fects of current policies and proposed statutory, reg20 ulatory, administrative, and budgetary changes on 

21 State educational agencies, and local educational 

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

23 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by the Secretary. 

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

25 In addition to advising the Secretary with respect to 


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

2 of the Office of Rural Education Policy (referred to 

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

4 shall— 

5 ‘‘(A) establish and maintain a clearing6 house for collecting and disseminating informa7 tion on— 

8 ‘‘(i) teacher and principal recruitment 

9 and retention at rural elementary schools 

10 and rural secondary schools; 

11 ‘‘(ii) access to, and implementation 

12 and use of, technology and distance learn13 ing at such schools; 

14 ‘‘(iii) rigorous coursework delivery 

15 through distance learning at such schools; 

16 ‘‘(iv) student achievement at such 

17 schools, including the achievement of low18 income and minority students; 

19 ‘‘(v) innovative approaches in rural 

20 education to increase student achievement; 

21 ‘‘(vi) higher education and career 

22 readiness and secondary school completion 

23 of students enrolled in such schools; 


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

2 childhood development for children located 

3 in rural areas; 

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

5 community-based organizations in rural 

6 areas; 

7 ‘‘(ix) the availability of professional 

8 development opportunities for rural teach9 ers and principals; 

10 ‘‘(x) the availability of Federal and 

11 other grants and assistance that are spe12 cifically geared or applicable to rural 

13 schools; and 

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

15 ‘‘(B) identify innovative research and dem16 onstration projects on topics of importance to 

17 rural elementary schools and rural secondary 

18 schools, including gaps in such research, and 

19 recommend such topics for study by the Insti20 tute of Education Sciences and other research 

21 agencies; 

22 ‘‘(C) coordinate the activities within the 

23 Department that relate to rural education; 

24 ‘‘(D) provide information to the Secretary 

25 and others in the Department with respect to 


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1 the activities of other Federal departments and 

2 agencies that relate to rural education, includ3 ing activities relating to rural housing, rural ag4 ricultural services, rural transportation, rural 

5 economic development, rural career and tech6 nical training, rural health care, rural disability 

7 services, and rural mental health; 

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

9 Education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the 

10 Department of the Interior, and the schools ad11 ministered by such agencies regarding rural 

12 education; 

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

14 cooperative agreements, or contracts, technical 

15 assistance and other activities as necessary to 

16 support activities related to improving edu17 cation in rural areas; and 

18 ‘‘(G) produce an annual report on the con19 dition of rural education that is delivered to the 

20 members of the Education and the Workforce 

21 Committee of the House of Representatives and 

22 the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

23 Committee of the Senate and published on the 

24 Department’s Web site. 


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1 ‘‘(c) IMPACT ANALYSES OF RULES AND REGULA2 TIONS ON RURAL SCHOOLS.— 

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

4 Secretary publishes a general notice of proposed 

5 rulemaking for any rule or regulation that may have 

6 a significant impact on State educational agencies or 

7 local educational agencies serving schools with a lo8 cale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by 

9 the Secretary, the Secretary (acting through the Di10 rector) shall prepare and make available for public 

11 comment an initial regulatory impact analysis. Such 

12 analysis shall describe the impact of the proposed 

13 rule or regulation on such State educational agencies 

14 and local educational agencies and shall set forth, 

15 with respect to such agencies, the matters required 

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

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

18 regulatory impact analysis (or a summary) shall be 

19 published in the Federal Register at the time of the 

20 publication of general notice of proposed rulemaking 

21 for the rule or regulation. 

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

23 promulgates a final version of a rule or regulation 

24 with respect to which an initial regulatory impact 

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


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1 (acting through the Director) shall prepare a final 

2 regulatory impact analysis with respect to the final 

3 version of such rule or regulation. Such analysis 

4 shall set forth, with respect to State educational 

5 agencies and local educational agencies serving 

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

7 as determined by the Secretary, the matters required 

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

9 be set forth with respect to small entities. The Sec10 retary shall make copies of the final regulatory im11 pact analysis available to the public and shall pub12 lish, in the Federal Register at the time of publica13 tion of the final version of the rule or regulation, a 

14 statement describing how a member of the public 

15 may obtain a copy of such analysis. 

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

17 a regulatory flexibility analysis is required by chap18 ter 6 of title 5, United States Code, for a rule or 

19 regulation to which this subsection applies, such 

20 analysis shall specifically address the impact of the 

21 rule or regulation on State educational agencies and 

22 local educational agencies serving schools with a lo23 cale code of 32, 33, 41, 42, or 43, as determined by 

24 the Secretary.’’. 


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1 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—Section 221(c) of the De2 partment of Education Organization Act, as added by sub3 section (a), shall apply to regulations proposed more than 

4 30 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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