Last month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rescinded the rural classification of Clean School Bus Program funding from Mineral, Monongalia and Harrison counties in West Virginia.
The EPA originally announced $18.6 million for West Virginia counties as part of year two competitive grants won by Cabell, Clay, Calhoun, Kanawha, Mineral, Monongalia, Harrison, Grant and Lewis Counties. It specifically rescinded the rural classification which changes the funding levels earmarked for Mineral, Monongalia and Harrison counties citing “methodological errors in their identification of rural areas in mountains regions.”
Sen. Joe Machin expressed disappointment and is calling for a revision to how rural areas are classified by the National Center on Education Statistics (NCES). While all three school districts qualify for federal Title I funding, they did not meet the 35,000-student population threshold, making them ineligible for self-certification under the Clean School Bus Program.
“For over a decade, I have been working on making sure rural areas within Appalachia receive the federal investments they deserve, and this is a clear example that more work needs to be done,” Manchin said in a statement. “The EPA committed to working with my office to ensure their methodology is improved so these counties can receive full funding in the next grant cycle.”
On Tuesday, Machin wrote a letter to NCES Commissioner Peggy Carr, noting that West Virginia is the only state that lies completely within the Appalachian Mountain region. He said it has a higher elevation than any state in the east, and according to the Census Bureau is the third most rural state in the nation with over 51 percent living in rural areas.
“However much of West Virginia, and Appalachia as a whole, continues to be miscategorized as ‘urban,’ denying opportunities to many of our most vulnerable regions,” Machin added.
NCES is the primary agency for which the U.S. Department of Education relies on for statistical information regarding education activities. This includes collecting information on public schools in the county and classifying them into locales — rural, town, suburban and city.
“Under your rural category, you define remote rural as more than 25 miles from an urbanized area, a distant rural area as more than five miles or less than or equal to 25 miles from an urbanized area, and fringe rural as less than or equal to five miles from an urbanized area,” Manchin wrote, adding that the topography of where a school district is located is not considered.
Instead, Machin is advocating that the NCES also consider ruggedness, which impacts the travel of students to and from school. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Economic Research Service released its Characterizing Rugged Terrain in the U.S. report last August. It shares two new measurements for representing relative topography — the Area Ruggedness Scale (ARS) and the Road Ruggedness Scale (RRS).
The RRS has five categories based on the changes in elevation — level, nearly level, slightly rugged, moderately rugged and highly rugged.
“The report found that 11.7 percent of the U.S. population lives in a rugged area, with 1.4 percent living in a highly rugged area. For comparison, West Virginia has the largest shared of resident living in a rugged area, with 80.7 percent of the population living in a rugged area and 15 percent in a highly rugged area,” Manchin continued. “While ruggedness alone cannot dictate rurality, we feel that it is an important consideration when determining what is rural and what is not.”
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He added that the RRS can help bring further clarity where people live in rugged terrain and how it impacts travel, while also creating remote and difficult to reach areas, but maybe not long in terms of mileage distance.
“The mountainous terrain of Appalachia leads residents to live along highways and rivers, resulting in a higher density per square mile, so the urbanized areas stretch far outside their practical regions,” he stated. “Marshall County in [West Virginia] is 89 percent rugged, which better reflects the reality of the county.
The letter states, “The RRS is the first nationwide detailed ruggedness measure, and we feel it will be an important tool in targeting resources to areas like Appalachia that have so far been left behind. As NCES is dedicated to providing the most accurate information regarding education activities, we feel that the RRS is the newest and best tool for capturing the realities of attending school and receiving an education in mountainous and difficult terrain areas.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information is available. STN updated this article to reflect that the full award wasn’t rescinded, only the rural classification, which impacts the amount of money districts receive.
