State equalization programs for school funding have been structured around variously weighted combinations of district wealth, tax effort and student need. For rural and small school districts, these programs have not always provided adequate financing. Nine rural school finance alternatives are suggested. (MH)

The study's primary task was to develop a definition for quality education in order to compare programs being offered in different sized rural school districts. Based upon the results, Iowa's smaller rural school districts deserve more political and educational attention and credit for offering quality educational opportunities. (Author/BR)

An overview of the status of rural school financing revealed three major reasons why rural schools are facing major problems in financing today: (1) school reforms have generally failed to address the specific needs of rural and small schools; (2) researchers have failed to recognize small school differences in their collection, classification and…