Small rural districts constitute a major portion of the public elementary and secondary sector of education. However, only one in every 40 students in the nation attended schools in small rural districts. Small rural districts are declining in numbers, however. This represented a net loss of 1 in 11 small rural districts in this period.
Rural schools are generally small.
Even in small rural districts that continued to operate, there was a net closure of 92 schools. Students in Small Rural Districts In 1993-94, about 1,100,000 of the nation's 43,200,000 public school students were enrolled in small rural districts. In large rural districts, by comparison, a much smaller share came from local sources.