Senator Joe Manchin pushing the US Department of Education to
consider accessibility when categorizing public school districts for federal funding.
There are currently 4 categories for public schools,
rural, town, suburban and city.
But those definitions only take into account how far a
district is from an urban area,
not the actual accessibility. In a letter to National Center
for Education Statistics,
Commissioner Peggy Carr Mansion said the current method does not
account for mountains and rugged areas seen in Appalachia.
The letter asked to CAR to review the NCES's methodology
to better capture rugged areas in Department of Education data.