Trump plan takes second shot at ending rural schools program Congress created to address resource gaps

Classroom at Velva Public Schools, which educates 
roughly 450 students. (Velva Public Schools photo)

The Trump administration is pushing to end the Rural Education Achievement Program by rolling the money into a $2 billion block grant. But rural schools rely on REAP to fill the funding gaps for "tutoring, afterschool and technology needs," reports Linda Jacobson for The74. Smaller school district leaders say the funding "is vital."

REAP was created by Congress to help rural schools meet the same educational standards that bigger public schools must adhere to, even though rural areas have fewer services and resources for helping students reach those strict benchmarks.

Monty Mayer, the superintendent of the Velva Public Schools in North Dakota, which serves nearly 450 students across two schools, told The74, "Money rolled into a block grant would be swallowed up by the bigger schools as their needs are much greater than ours. [That would leave] “small rural schools looking to find answers in different places without a clear picture as to where those resources would come from.”

When Education Secretary Linda McMahon gave her testimony to the Senate appropriations committee in late April, she "faced several questions from both Democrats and Republicans about the future of the program. She suggested that REAP was underutilized," Jacobson writes. McMahon testified that rural schools don't apply for REAP dollars because they lack grant writers and grant writing expertise.

Rural education experts don't agree with McMahon. They claim Congress designed REAP to be flexible because rural schools lack grant writing staff and expertise. "States or districts don’t write grant proposals for the funding, said Steven Johnson, superintendent of the Fort Ransom Public School District, which operates one elementary school in southeast North Dakota," Jacobson reports. "Districts eligible for the funds, based on size and location, receive an invitation to apply. And most do, Johnson said."

During her testimony, McMahon also said that REAP funds weren't "giving the returns that we hope to see for rural schools." McMahon did not cite the evidence or measurement standards that informed her statement.

This is the second time the administration has pitched the block grant proposal. Last year, "Congress ultimately rejected it." Jacobson reports. "With the appropriations process likely to drag out for months, it’s unclear whether lawmakers will be more receptive this year."

Federal funding cuts, decreased use and a sluggish U.S. economy will cost some rural towns their libraries

The Tieton Library will close later this month, leaving the town's 
1,610 residents without a library for the first time since 1946.

Libraries in rural towns provide residents with a safe community hub that offers educational materials, meeting space, and sometimes even a place to escape inclement weather. But federal budget cuts, a slowing economy and demographic changes are forcing some small-town libraries to close.

Earlier this year, President Donald Trump issued an executive order "dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services, which has provided around $270 million a year to public and academic libraries," reports Anna Griffin of The New York Times. Without those federal dollars, some libraries in smaller communities won't have enough funding to remain open.

While Trump's executive order faces a court challenge, some smaller libraries are already scaling back. "Some rural libraries in Florida and Mississippi, for example, have frozen inter-library loan programs, sharply reducing the range of materials available to residents in more remote areas," Griffin writes. "State libraries in Maine, Indiana, Connecticut and Washington have laid off staff members or warned that layoffs were coming."

While most U.S. library systems rely on federal and state funding and already operate within tight budgets, smaller libraries with a more limited tax base have a harder time raising funds to cover shortfalls. 

The Yakima library district in Washington state, which serves rural farming towns, is an example of a system that had to make changes to remain solvent. District leaders have already announced an increase in fees to maintain services. The fee changes, along with looming state and federal funding cuts, have already pushed a Yakima library in Tieton to schedule its closure for later this month.

Kate Laughlin, executive director of the Association for Rural & Small Libraries, told Griffin, "We had a financial model that wasn’t all that sustainable even before this administration. What you are seeing in a place like Yakima County is the start, not the end."

Opinion: U.S. educational mismatch leaves American manufacturers unable to fill 'millions of critical jobs'

A shortage of trained mechanics means auto owners 
will pay more for repairs. (Ford photo)

Moving the manufacturing of any product back to the U.S. is an expensive and iffy gamble that can take years to bring into fruition. For many companies, the idea of reshoring labor-intensive industries isn't even on the table because the nation doesn't have enough skilled trade workers to staff factory floors.

Ford Motor CEO Jim Farley "pointed out on a podcast last week that he can’t find enough skilled mechanics to run his auto plants. Specifically, Ford can’t fill 5,000 mechanic jobs that pay $120,000 a year," writes The Wall Street Journal editorial board.

“We are in trouble in our country. We are not talking about this enough,” Farley told Monica Langley of the "Office Hours" podcast. "We have over a million openings in critical jobs, emergency services, trucking, factory workers, plumbers, electricians and tradesmen.”

For decades, American youth have been influenced to attend college rather than trade schools through government-sponsored financial support and cultural influences that push college degrees as a prerequisite for success, even when a trade profession might be a better fit. "This has created a skills mismatch in the labor market," the board adds. "Unemployment among young college grads is increasing, while employers struggle to hire skilled manufacturing workers, technicians and contractors."

When graduate numbers are compared, the extreme shortage of skilled workers becomes clear. "Only 114,000 Americans in their 20s completed vocational programs during the first 10 months of last year, compared to 1.24 million who graduated from four-year colleges and 405,000 who received advanced degrees," the board writes.

A lack of skilled workers eventually costs consumers more money. "An American whose F-150 truck breaks down will still have to pay more at the repair shop owing to the mechanic shortage," the board explains. "Steering every high school student toward college is doing tangible harm to the labor market — and the young."

Rural schools may face dire teacher shortages as federal funding is canceled, and H-1B visas are priced out of reach

In many rural schools, the majority of teachers are
not from the U.S. (Adobe Stock photo)

Federal funding cuts and skyrocketing H-1B visa fees are likely to deepen teacher shortages in rural schools, where international teachers helped fill staffing shortages.

Earlier this year, the federal Department of Education canceled teacher residency and training grants for rural schools. In September, President Donald Trump "announced a $100,000 fee on new H-1B visa applications — visas hundreds of schools use to hire international teachers for hard-to-staff positions," writes Ariel Gilreath of The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

Melissa Sadorf, the executive director of the National Rural Education Association, told Gilreath the H-1B fee increase could cause the rural teacher workforce to "collapse."

Halifax County School District in rural North Carolina serves as an example: "Districtwide, 101 of 156 educators are international," Gilreath reports. "Of the 17 teachers who work at Everetts Elementary School in the district, two are from the United States."

Since few rural schools have the funding to pay $100k for an H-1B visa, districts will be forced to hire international teachers through the J-1 visa, which requires recipients to return home after three to five years.

While the J-1 visa helps schools fill staffing holes, it doesn't deliver a return on investment through retention because teachers have to leave the country just as they are hitting their stride in the classroom.

With fewer American college students choosing elementary and secondary teaching as a profession, the U.S. has an overall teacher shortage "that’s made filling vacancies one of the most challenging problems for school leaders to solve," Gilreath explains. 

In rural Bunker Hill, Illinois, where "more than 500 students attend two schools, some positions have gone unfilled for years," Gilreath reports. "Students often end up with a long-term substitute or an unlicensed student teacher."

West Virginia is among the first states to ban some synthetic food dyes from school lunches

Many dyes from nature can replace artificial colors.
(Adobe Stock photo)

West Virginia schools took certain food dyes off the school lunch menu starting on Aug. 1. "West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed a sweeping new law in March banning seven artificial dyes from school meals," reports Jonel Aleccia of The Associated Press. "Other states have enacted similar laws that would strip artificial dyes from school meals, but West Virginia’s action is the first to take effect."

The brief timeline between March and August sent state and school nutrition directors on a crunch time search to root out any school menu items that "contained any trace of petroleum-based synthetic dyes, including Red 3, Red 40, Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Blue 1, Blue 2 and Green 3," Aleccia explains. Once those items were removed, directors began working out substitution options that kids would still eat.

Health advocates have pushed to get synthetic dyes out of U.S. food for years, "citing mixed evidence of potential harm," Aleccia reports. "West Virginia’s ban on synthetic dyes was cheered by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has successfully pressured food makers to agree to remove artificial colors from their products."

Still, banning certain dyes won't suddenly make Americans healthier. "Nutrition experts agree that removing artificial colors from foods doesn’t address the main drivers of America’s chronic health problems," Aleccia writes. "Those stem largely from ingredients such as added sugars, sodium and saturated fat."

Nationally, the push against synthetic dyes is more of a baby step toward better nutrition. FDA Commissioner Marty Makary "has joined Kennedy in the push to get artificial dyes out of food, despite limited proof of health effects," Aleccia reports. In a recent podcast, Makary called the removal of petroleum-based food dyes "steps in the right direction.”

Just because Jell-O fruit cups and older versions of  Cool Ranch Doritos won't be served, doesn't mean school lunches will all turn beige. "Some suppliers had already removed artificial dyes from some school foods, swapping them for products colored with beet juice or turmeric." 

Rural residents seeking higher degrees often have to move; lawmakers think community colleges may have a solution

Jaylea Perez attends community college but will have to move if she
 wants a 4-year degree. (Photo by Mike Rundle, The Hechinger Report)

Rural communities across the United States face the same problem: There aren't enough higher education opportunities within driving distance. To fill ‘education deserts,’ more state lawmakers want community colleges to offer bachelor’s degrees," reports Jon Marcus for The Hechinger Report, which covers education.

The U.S. has roughly 13 million adults who "live beyond a reasonable commute from the nearest four-year university," Marcus explains. For now, the lack of educational options is predicted to increase "as private colleges in rural places close, public university campuses merge or shut down and rural universities cut majors and programs."

Although half of the states in the country already allow community colleges to offer some type of bachelor's degree, several of those that don't are considering adding this option. Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky and Texas are all states with large swaths of rural populations that have legislatures considering plans to allow community colleges to expand.

The proposal Illinois is considering is "backed by that state’s governor, J.B. Pritzker, who has said the move would make it easier and more affordable for residents to get degrees — 'particularly working adults in rural communities,'" Marcus adds. "Three-quarters of community college students in Illinois said they would pursue bachelor’s degrees if they could do it on the same campus, according to a survey released by Pritzker’s office."

The shift to allowing community colleges to confer higher degrees might also help smaller communities address population loss and "brain drain." Marcus reports, "Fewer than 25% of rural Americans hold bachelor’s degrees or higher, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, compared to the national average of 33%," and that gap is widening.

Some states looking to make the change are contending with push-back from their larger colleges. The Illinois proposal "is stalled in committee after several public and private university presidents issued a statement opposing it," Marcus reports. "Negotiations are continuing."

To find out which states have active proposals and which 'deserts' they are trying to address, read the entire story here. 

Interested in rural reporting? Attend the live, virtual launch of the Rural Reporter's Notebook podcast and learn more.

For people curious about rural reporting or want to know more about how other news sources approach it, the Rural Journalism Collective is launching the Rural Reporter's Notebook podcast on Wednesday, May 14 at 2 p.m. (Eastern Time) with a live recording that includes a Q&A session with podcast hosts Claire Carlson and Julia Tilton from The Daily Yonder.

Anyone interested can attend this live, virtual event. Register here.

The podcast on May 14 will highlight how Carlson and Tilton interview their featured guest. The two will explain their processes during and after the interview. Then Caroline Carlson, senior digital editor of the Daily Yonder, will join the show and share details about launching and stewarding this bi-weekly podcast. The Q&A will follow.

The bi-weekly podcast will feature Claire Carlson and Tipton discussing news stories big and small and what they mean for rural communities. 

With little notice and no public debate, lawmakers closed a rural school district with a property tax reform bill

Rep. J.D. Prescott defends his reasons for closing USC
 at a public meeting. (Photo by Eric Weddle, NPR)

School officials and parents were shocked to learn Indiana lawmakers quietly closed their rural school district without public debate. "Tucked into a sweeping property tax reform bill with little public notice, the closing of Union School Corporation came as a surprise to nearly everyone except the lawmaker who wrote it — Rep. J.D. Prescott, a Republican from Union City, Ind.," reports Rachel Fradette of NPR, Indianapolis.

Located in tiny Modoc, Indiana, Union School Corporation educates roughly 7,500 students through its virtual programs, with around 290 students attending class in person. Fradette writes, "Under Indiana’s new property tax reform law, it will be dissolved in 2027 and the area (redistricted) among other school corporations."

At a town meeting just days after the bill passed, residents questioned Prescott about the lack of notice. Prescott told them, "The legal process was followed." Fradette reports, "Prescott told the crowd a combination of factors led him to write the legislation: prior years of discussion about district consolidation; more than half of families who live in the Union boundaries choosing to enroll their children in other districts; and poor academic performance at the virtual schools."

The closure, which was wrapped into Senate Enrolled Act 1, has been signed by Indiana Gov. Mike Braun. And while this isn't the first time Indiana lawmakers have stepped in to help struggling schools, those instances included public notice and debate. Chris Lagoni, executive director of the Indiana Small and Rural Schools Association, "said this is the first time in 50 years a school district has been closed by state mandate," Fradette writes. "District leaders now wonder if the state is applying new academic expectations to justify future closures."

Some school officials believe the district's wealth and number of virtual learners may have pegged it for closure. Superintendent of Union Schools Galen Mast "believes Union was targeted in legislation because their virtual schools attract students from other districts and charter schools," Fradette explains. "In Indiana, state funding follows the student. So if a student leaves. . . there is less funding for the home district to cover academic programs and teacher pay."

Union school officials and supporters plan to legally challenge the closure. Mast told Fradette, “We've been here for 70 years. Our intent is to be here for another 70 years.”

Without federal funding, humanities programs have an uncertain future. Rural places will feel the loss first.

A revitalized high school library funded by Humanities
Montana. (Humanities Montana photo via the Yonder)

Many rural states that depend on money from the National Endowment for the Arts to fund humanities programs have had those dollars cut by the Department of Government Efficiency, reports Nhatt Nichols for The Daily Yonder. The immediate loss of federal money has left communities in some of the most sparely populated parts of the country seeking private donor support, which adds another layer to their challenges.

Humanities Montana is one example of a statewide arts initiative facing the complete loss of NEH support. The program "is one of 56 regional humanities organizations that bring humanities programs to underresourced communities including in rural areas," Nichols writes. "In 2024, over 17,000 people attended a Humanities Montana program, with more than half residing in a rural county."

Montana isn't the only one. "In Alaska, a note on their program’s website states, 'Late on the night of April 2, the Alaska Humanities Forum received a letter from DOGE officials informing them that their NEH operating grant approved by Congress had been illegally terminated effective immediately,'" Nichols reports. "Wisconsin Humanities also has an announcement on its website, noting that 'the loss of NEH funding will likely result in Wisconsin Humanities closing its doors soon.'"

Finding donors within smaller communities will be an ongoing challenge for Humanities Montana. Nichols adds, "The NEH funding provided most of their operating budget; in 2023, the NEH made up 80.9% of their $1,011,229 budget."

Money isn't the only concern. The director of Humanities Montana, Jill Baker, told Nichols, "Our mission is to bring untold stories that can help bring people together and find the humanity in one another. At this moment, that’s a real challenge in and of itself. My worry is that without the public humanities, our divides will grow, we’ll have less opportunities to gather together and have simple civic conversations, to learn from one another.”

Retelling the history of land-grant universities and sharing their contributions is key to their survival

Gary Steinhardt taught and researched soil science issues
at Purdue and Purdue Extension. (Farm Progress photo)

Land-grant universities sit at the heart of farming research and Extension Services, but to keep them alive, their history and contribution need retelling, writes Tom J. Bechman of Farm Progress. "Education at a land-grant university helped make Gary Steinhardt who he is today. . . . He spent roughly half of his final Purdue Agronomy Department seminar explaining the history and mission of land-grant colleges and the Extension Service."

Steinhardt explained to Bechman why he felt driven to retell the land-grant success story: “We are at a point in the history of the land-grant system where we need to be careful. Some in the academic world don’t appreciate what it can accomplish. There is still a tremendous need to tell the public about research done through land-grant universities. Otherwise, education does not get passed along.”

Funding may always be a challenge for Extension Services, and "current upheaval due to efforts to cut federal spending may only intensify the fight for Extension dollars," Bechman explains. "But the threat Steinhardt refers to is within university systems. Is there still support among university leaders for practical, applied research that can be passed along to farmers and families, and to youth through 4-H? When an Extension person like Steinhardt retires, will that position be replaced?"

Steinhardt's seminar showcased the creation of land-grant universities and reviewed why they were established. A few of his highlighted events are shared below:

Land Ordinance of 1785. "Money from the sale of Section 16 in each township was reserved to fund schools," Bechman writes. "Money from land sales also helped start universities, including Miami University in Ohio, Indiana University, the University of Michigan and the University of Wisconsin."

Northwest Ordinance of 1787 and Industrial universities. "This act of the Confederation Congress declared 'schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged,'" Bechman adds. "In the mid-1800s, Jonathan Baldwin Turner promoted 'industrial universities' that could teach working-class people, like those in agriculture."

Morrill Land Grant Act of 1862. Bechman explains, "In the middle of the Civil War, this act of Congress specified how public lands could be donated to 'provide for colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts, including military tactics.'"

To read more about land-grant development in the United States, click here.

Rural round-up: USDA plan to lower egg prices; cuts to rural education research; relief payments to farmers; USFS firings

Photo by J. Egger,
Unsplash

As egg prices keep pecking at American pocketbooks, Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins has a 5-part plan to lower egg prices. Rollins writes, "Avian flu can still penetrate [almost any] facility; it is transmitted through wild birds that often enter through perimeter gaps that need to be fixed. . . . The USDA has developed a successful pilot program. . . to identify and implement more safety measures. . . . Second, we will make up to $400 million of increased financial relief available to farmers whose flocks are affected by avian flu, and we will assist them in receiving faster approval to begin safe operations again after an outbreak. . . ." Read all of Secretary Rollins' strategy here.

President Donald Trump's first campaign and term may have helped bring rural needs for investment and support to the forefront, but the current Trump administration "could bring that progress to a sudden halt," reports Nick Fouriezos for The Daily Yonder. "The first cuts were reportedly aimed at the Institute of Education Sciences, the Department of Education's independent research and evaluation arm, with at least 170 contracts shuttered. . . . The National Rural Higher Education Research Center just opened in September, after being awarded a 5-year, $10 million grant through the IES. . . . Led by MDRC, which conducts nonpartisan research to improve the lives of low-income Americans, the center is conducting eight major studies in rural areas across 10 states and 25 colleges."

Outdoor Recreation Roundtable photo

The wave of U.S. Forestry terminations put a precious rural resources at risk. "About 3,400 U.S. Forest Service employees within their probationary period have been fired due to Trump’s reforming the federal workforce executive order," reports Ilana Newman of The Daily Yonder. "National forests are vital to rural economies. The outdoor recreation industry contributed 1.2 trillion dollars to the American economy in 2023. . . . A source revealed that seasonal firefighters may be in the next round of terminations."

Sections of Appalachia were doused with rain last week, leaving parts of Kentucky, Virginia, West Virginia and Tennessee soaked and flooding -- again. The region's repeated natural disasters have caused heartbreak and extreme financial distress for many residents, but they have also helped Appalachian communities rely on one another. "Willa Johnson, a lifelong eastern Kentuckian, lived in McRoberts when the 2022 flood overturned her life," reports Katie Myers of Grist. "Johnson and others throughout the area feel their experience has prepared them to face future disasters with strength, and, when other rural communities go through the same experience, understand what they face and how best to help them."

In late December, Congress passed the American Relief Act, which earmarked $9.8 billion in agriculture relief payments to farmers, with a 90-day window for the Department of Agriculture to issue the checks, reports Tyne Morgan of Farm Journal. "With less than 30 days left before the deadline, farmers are asking one question: When will those payments be released? . . . .  On Thursday Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins confirmed payments will be released before the March 21 current deadline. She also outlined the timing of the $1 billion just announced to combat avian flu. Rollins is schedule to give another keynote talk today. To watch Farm Journal's most recent update interview with Rollins, click here.

Q & A: Carnegie Foundation president shares how changes in education could benefit rural students and places

Tim Knowles wants to shift American education in ways that
could help rural communities. (Courtesy photo via the Yonder)

Every president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching is asked to cast themselves into the future and make decisions about what will happen in five or even 10 years. For Tim Knowles, the foundation's 10th president, that means rethinking our educational systems and creating ways to develop rural talent and smaller-community success. An edited version of Knowles Q & A with Nick Fourienzos of The Daily Yonder is shared below.

Fouriezos: How do our current systems often miss rural students?
Knowles: Communities consistently prioritize the same core skills: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, curiosity, civic engagement, creativity, and hard work.

Think about a student in rural Iowa who wakes up at 4 a.m., works on the family farm, gets to school on time every day, does their homework, maintains good grades, and holds a weekend job. Those activities aggregated up, are clear signals of persistence. We need to figure out both how to capture that and then make it legible to employers and the post-secondary sector.

Fouriezos: How is Carnegie rethinking its classifications for post-secondary institutions?
Knowles: We’re introducing a new universal classification focused on economic opportunity. For every institution that receives federal money — about 4,000 of them — we’ll look at two main factors: access and earnings outcomes eight years after graduation.

Fouriezos: How will rural education and students be affected?
Knowles: This could particularly benefit rural institutions that serve disproportionate numbers of low-income families. About 25 states already have laws or regulations connected to the Carnegie classifications, and federal departments like NSF, NIH, and NASA use them to direct resources.

This is about making the post-secondary sector a much more vital engine for social and economic mobility. And in rural areas particularly, we need to better recognize and support the unique ways that schools and colleges contribute to their communities.

Fouriezos: Why do you feel like there is more of an appetite for actually changing higher education now, compared to in the past?
Knowles: The cost of higher education is out of reach for millions of Americans. Confidence in higher education is at an all-time low. And there are fewer college-age students in general. . . . You’re also seeing a massive lean toward Career Technical Education, with many conservative states making it more available to more students.

We need to ensure our systems are valuing and measuring the right things. By focusing on [educational] outcomes that matter, and directing public policy and public capital to the places that create genuine opportunity — even if they’re doing it in ways that don’t fit traditional models — the nation can accelerate economic opportunity for everyone.

Rural schools funding bill fails in the U.S. House. The loss will 'create needless pain for rural communities.'

Superior High School in Mineral County, Montana. The county received nearly $900,000 in 2024
from the Secure Rural Schools bill. (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick, the Daily Montanan)

A lack of support in the U.S. House to fund a 20-year-old program will leave rural schools in 41 states without vital money. Western states will likely feel the pinch first. "For years, the Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act has sent hundreds of millions of dollars to counties with federal land within their borders," reports Alex Baumhardt of The Daily Montanan. "In the West, the money has largely helped keep county and school budgets whole following reduced logging and a reduction in timber revenue."

Although the Senate reauthorized the bill in November, the House failed to find a compromise to keep the bill funded, and it died without a vote. "Democrat Ron Wyden, who co-authored the original bill in 2000 said the failure to approve the money will create needless pain for rural communities," Baumhardt writes. "Idaho Sen. Mike Crapo, a Republican who worked with Wyden to get the bill passed in the Senate, said he shared Wyden’s frustration."

In Oregon, the bill's funding goes to 30 of the state's 36 counties and "typically pays up to $80 million a year for schools and roads in Oregon along with wildfire prevention and conservation work. . . . Oregon has received $4 billion in funding from the bill in the last 24 years," Baumhardt reports. Other states also have received healthy chunks of support. In 2023, "12 counties in Alaska received $12.6 million; 34 counties in Idaho got $25 million; 32 counties in Montana received $16 million; and 25 counties in Washington state received about $18 million."

As the ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, Crapo plans to revive the bill in early 2025. "He said he’ll push for the bill when he’ll take the reins of the committee under Republican control of the Senate," Baumhardt reports. "Wyden, now Finance Committee chair who will become the ranking member in 2025, said he’ll be pushing for passage, too."

Not enough child care spots pushes states to help care centers expand; some emphasis is on rural needs.

Helping child care centers expand means more
parents can stay on the job. (Adobe Stock photo)

The lack of available and affordable child care keeps many parents -- mostly women -- out of the U.S. workforce. The need for more spots has pushed state lawmakers to use novel strategies to help child care centers expand.

"Nationally, more than half of all Americans live in 'child care deserts,' and the need for child care is especially great among . . . low and middle-income families, families of color and families living in rural areas," reports Maggie Clark of Stateline. "A child care desert is a place where there are more than three children for every regulated child care spot."

The child care conundrum isn't just an issue for parents. The problem "costs the U.S. economy roughly $122 billion each year in lost earnings, productivity and revenue," Clark explains. "To create more child care slots and reduce prices, lawmakers are increasingly using economic development strategies to help child care businesses expand, similar to the support they’ve offered to attract and expand manufacturing facilities, technology startups or other types of businesses."

Advocates and lawmakers are particularly focused on addressing child care shortages in rural areas. Clark explains, "This year, Oregon is awarding its first batch of $50 million in grants and loans for new construction, expansion and renovation for child care businesses, with priority for child care providers in rural areas."

Lawmakers in Colorado, Nebraska, Oregon and Vermont had "local and state zoning regulations reviewed," Clark reports. They also "set up help centers where child care business owners can get help with navigating permitting and other business rules so that they can expand their businesses and care for more children, which will help more parents stay in the workforce."

States that are working to support child care businesses with infrastructure offerings that other sectors receive "send a powerful message that child care businesses and the people who operate them are valuable to their communities and economies," Clark writes.

Erin Roche, Vermont director of First Children’s Finance, which is helping the state administer its child care infrastructure grant program, told Clark, "It’s a lot about changing our cultural values of thinking of [child care centers] as businesses, and not just something little that mostly women do on the side."

'Child care is unaffordable for families and not profitable for businesses.' Some communities will vote on changes.

Some communities are asking voters to help pay for
child care. (Shutter Stock photo)

Are U.S. voters ready to help pay for child care services as a part of their community's labor and services infrastructure? Communities in Sonoma County, Calif., St. Paul, Minn., and most of Austin Texas are about to find out, reports Harriet Torry of The Wall Street Journal. The November voting initiatives highlight a problem for urban, metro and rural families -- child care is no longer affordable or not even available due to child care teacher shortages. 

In Austin, classrooms at Ebenezer Child Development Center sit empty because the center's owner, Jordan Maclay, "can’t find enough teachers who can work at the wages she is able to offer," Torry explains. "Maclay is hoping that voters next week will approve an amendment that would raise property taxes by 2.5 cents per $100 valuation throughout Travis County, which includes most of Austin. The state already helps some low-income families pay for daycare. The county money would add to that, with the goal of raising pay and creating new positions for daycare staffers." Voters in Sonoma County, Calif., and St. Paul, Minn., will consider similar ballot initiatives.

Federal lawmakers have tried to remedy the problem, but bills have been stymied, leaving states and counties to grapple with solutions. "Vermont created a new payroll tax, to increase staffing and capacity at daycares. And in Louisiana, taxes on sports betting, cannabis-derived products and casinos raise money for early childhood education," Torry writes. "Florida this year started offering tax breaks to businesses that provide child care for employees."

Child-care centers struggle to make a profit with a business model where oversight is high and ways to cut costs are few. Torry reports, "Daycares are labor intensive. They can’t, for example, hire remote workers. They are also closely regulated, which means they can’t skimp on the number of teachers. Other fixed costs are also high and hard to bring down: the rent or mortgage, insurance, food."

Cynthia Osborne, professor of early childhood education and policy at Vanderbilt University, told Torry, "Child care is unaffordable for families and not profitable for businesses, and child-care educators are the ones really struggling in the middle."

In the end, some parents can't afford to work. Torry adds, "A paucity of child care is a drag on the labor market. About 13% of young children in the U.S. had a family member who had to quit, change or refuse a job because of child care problems, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation, which examined Commerce and Labor Department data."

High school students help to run this rural grocery store in Nebraska; 'It's a symbol of small-town grit'

Student Ariel Shields doing work-based learning class
at Circle C. (Courtesy photo via Flatwater Free Press)

Small-town grocery stores have closed at an alarming rate over the past two decades. "Teachers in Cody-Kilgore, a small district nestled in the Nebraska Sandhills, were determined not to let that be their town's story," reports Heidi Beguin of the Flatwater Free Press. They wondered if a student-run grocery store could be the answer.

If necessity is indeed the mother of invention, teachers, administrators, parents and the project's workhorses -- students -- all got on board to support the idea. "Nearly two decades after the idea first surfaced, the Circle C Market – a student-run grocery store . . . continues to serve Cody and the nearby areas," Beguin writes. The store is open six days a week and "represents far more than groceries. It’s a symbol of small-town grit, of neighbors helping neighbors."

Community tenacity is great, but so are the hands-on labor and management skills students learn running the market. And the village "gets a local option in what would otherwise be a grocery desert, with the nearest option being a 40-mile drive down U.S. Highway 20 to Valentine," Beguin explains. "Enrollment in the district has ticked up slightly from 140 students in the 2013-14 school year to 156 currently. Earlier this summer, voters approved a bond to build a new school."

Stacey Adamson was one of the original teachers who floated the idea of a student-run grocery, and she has watched the people and students grow through the project's development. She "believes the learning experience for the students, some of whom come from hard home lives, is worth the challenge. 'By the end of their time there … they will look you in the eye. They’ll say ‘good afternoon.’ They’ll say, ‘thank you. Can I carry your groceries to the car? It’s a game changer for a lot of kids.' Circle C has persisted during a tough time for Nebraska’s rural grocery stores."

Rural Florida community makes dramatic changes to prep for a new airport; an opportunity to 'move the needle'

Becoming home base for a major airport hub takes
monumental community efforts. (Adobe Stock photo)

When your community is surrounded by swamps and has low education levels, opportunities to gain infrastructure dollars don't come often, which is why rural Hendry County, Florida, is taking on the challenge of proving it can provide for the new "Airglades" airport," reports Nick Fouriezos of Open Campus. "The $300 million cargo hub could transform [the county] economy. . . . Local leaders see the project as a generational opportunity that could bring more than 1,400 new high-skilled jobs to their largely agricultural community at the edge of the Everglades." 

To reach their labor goals, Hendry community developers must educate and train their workforce to meet a dynamic shift in educational and labor needs. Getting that done is daunting. Fouriezos explains, "A third of Hendry County’s working-age adults lack a high-school diploma. And almost half speak a language other than English at home. Educators must first help them earn their GEDs and learn English."

The area must also work through logistics to transform its small private airport into a major U.S.-Latin America trading zone.

Location of Hendry County
(Adobe Stock map)

With help from the FutureMakers Coalition, a community organization that spearheads education retraining efforts, the county has opened two adult education centers. Fouriezos reports, "Spanish-speaking students have filled the adult education center in LaBelle, the 5,000-person county seat. . . . Even before the airport arrives, there are still plenty of local employers waiting to hire the students."

Part of the challenge of providing all the training and teaching was finding teachers. Michael Swindle, the county schools superintendent, "had to recruit a U.S. sugar worker to teach welding and coaxed a school bus mechanic out of retirement to lead the diesel mechanics program," Fouriezos adds. "Still, the program has been so successful the county is using tuition revenue and donations to open another training facility in LaBelle focused on HVAC and plumbing."

Swindle told Fouriezos: "We’re not just talking about an airport. We’re looking at this as an opportunity to move the needle on unemployment, on poverty, to a better place.”

More than half of American teachers are worried about a school shooting on their campus; parents are worried, too

1 in 4 U.S. teachers experienced a gun-related lockdown
at their school. (Adobe stock photo)

U.S. teachers must deftly manage tasks, lessons and discipline. To get the job done, educators make an average of 1,500 decisions a day. While that description sounds challenging, most teachers have the added worry of facing school gun violence, reports Jennifer Gerson of The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom for social issues.

"The majority of American K-12 public school teachers say they are at least somewhat worried about the possibility of a shooting at their school, according to a new survey conducted by the Pew Research Center," Gerson writes. "Fifty-nine percent told Pew researchers that they were concerned about shootings on their campuses, with 18% saying they were 'very' or 'extremely' worried. Only 7% of teachers polled said they were not worried at all."

More than two decades have passed since the Columbine High School massacre, but those years have not produced an answer to gun threats in schools. Gerson reports, "Last year, roughly 1 in 4 American teachers reported experiencing a gun-related lockdown at their school. Fifteen percent of respondents said they went through one emergency lockdown, with another 8 percent saying that it happened where they teach more than once."

Regardless of party affiliation, most surveyed teachers advocated for student mental health screening as part of the solutions. "A large majority — 69% — said they believed improving mental health screening and treatment for children and adults would be extremely or very effective in preventing school shootings," Gerson explains. "This emphasis was held across party lines, with 73% of Democratic teachers and 66% of Republican teachers saying that investment in mental health resources would be an extremely or very effective prevention tool."

Teachers aren't alone in their safety concerns -- many parents also profess a significant degree of worry. "A Pew Research Center study released last fall found that a third of American parents said they were extremely or very worried about a shooting at their child's school, with an additional 37 percent saying they were somewhat worried," Gerson reports.

Student absenteeism rose sharply after the pandemic and shows no signs of improving; teachers are absent more, too

Kids need more classroom time to learn.
(Photo by Kenny Eliason, Unsplash)

Even before the pandemic, getting kids off to school wasn't easy. But in post-Covid period, school attendance has sunk for many reasons, and efforts to get students and families to return to their previous routines have failed.

"Perhaps no issue has been as stubborn and pervasive as a sharp increase in student absenteeism, a problem that cuts across demographics and has continued long after schools reopened," report Sarah Mervosh and Francesca Paris of The New York Times. Across the United States, an "estimated 26 percent of public school students were considered chronically absent last school year, up from 15 percent before the pandemic. . . .Chronic absence is typically defined as missing at least 10 percent of the school year, or about 18 days, for any reason."

Across all demographic measures, fewer kids attend school regularly, but lower-income communities face the largest number of absences. The Times reports, "Around 32 percent of students in the poorest districts were chronically absent in the 2022-23 school year, up from 19 percent before the pandemic."

Once the engrained family routine of getting up, getting dressed and getting to school was broken, families found new ways to manage mornings without school, and past habits have not returned for many. Katie Rosanbalm, a psychologist and associate research professor with the Center of Child and Family Policy at Duke University, told the Times, "Our relationship with school became optional."

Despite many families' apathetic response, returning students to the classroom is vital for learning and student success. "Today, student absenteeism is a leading factor hindering the nation's recovery from pandemic learning losses, educational experts say. Students can't learn if they aren't in school," Mervosh and Paris write. Adding to the problem is an increase in teacher absences.

Many parents and educators wonder if the degree of absenteeism and different attitudes toward education are the new normal. "Bringing about meaningful change for large numbers of students remains slow, difficult work," the Times reports. 

In Montana, the cost of living and lack of affordable housing and child care contribute to growing workforce shortages

Rural Montana is a 'canary in the coal mine' for severe 
 labor shortages in needed sectors. (N. Fouriezos photo)

Across the country, the need for a younger workforce to fill a wide range of positions is reaching a critical point, but particularly for rural areas. Students and potential workers face a range of obstacles that prevent them from filing those roles, reports Nick Fouriezos of The Daily Yonder. In Montana, medical, academic and labor professionals are working to address these issues.

Lindsey Flather from Bitterroot Valley, Montana, is the kind of student Montana's new strategies aim to help. Fouriezos writes, "A working mother in her thirties, Flather decided to pursue a new career in health care. . . . And she is urgently needed. In Montana, 52 of 56 counties — including Ravalli County — are considered medically underserved, and nearly half of the state’s nurses say they plan on retiring or leaving the profession in the next five years."

Like many of her fellow students, Flather has faced long commutes for classes, a lack of child care options, and juggling to make work and school mend together. "At the same time, employers are desperate to get more people through these workforce pipelines," Fouriezos explains. "They, too, are challenged by geography, says Rebecca Conroy, the chief transformational officer at Bitterroot Health, a regional hospital in western Montana."

Yet even when needed professionals, such as medical assistants, graduate they often can't afford to live in the county where they are needed most. "The median rent in Hamilton, Bitterroot Valley's biggest town, is now $2,087, up 30% over the previous year," Fouriezos reports. "The lack of affordable housing makes it almost impossible to recruit out-of-towners, and the in-town workforce is drying up. The talent pipeline is thin, Conroy says. And the pressure is only growing."

"Employers like Conroy are the canaries in the coal mine of a growing talent shortage nationwide. So smoothing the route to jobs like medical assisting has become a key focus of Montana’s government and educational infrastructure," Fouriezos writes. "The state’s colleges recently partnered with the national nonprofit Education Design Lab to interview Conroy and local business leaders statewide about how they might create new educational opportunities, like a set of micro-credentials to allow people to build key skills in shorter courses over time."