Decorah Community School District Superintendent Mark Lane takes part in a meeting of the Rural School Advocates of Iowa

What are the top four most important issues facing rural Iowa school districts such as Decorah?  Decorah School Superintendent Mark Lame and other rural school district school superintendents have some input for state legislators on that issue.

School funding, especially State Supplemental Assistance (SSA), is a clear priority for RSAI members. School funding primarily pays for the teachers, counselors, librarians, administrators, nurses, secretaries, coaches and custodians in rural school districts.

The superintendents also identified transportation equity, student mental health and staffing shortages as top issues being faced by rural school districts.  During its last session, the state legislature made an effort to close the transportation funding gap faced by rural districts, but superintendents are urging legislators to get all school districts down to the state average.

Position papers on key issues and a Digest of the 2020 Legislative Session are available on the RSAI legislative web page, http://www.rsaia.org/legislative.html