RSAI is proud of its grassroots lobbying efforts, which connect local school leaders to legislators and have resulted in many legislative accomplishments. Some of the recent accomplishments around rural equity, flexibility, local control, and funding include:

• More Board Authority: through statutory home rule, locally-driven dropout prevention plans, and board authority to redirect funds to the needs of students, since one-size does not fit all. Most recently, TLC flexibility and proposed changes to Chapter 12 in the 2023 Session.
• Transportation & Formula Equity: funding is now incorporated in the formula and will grow by the SSA rate annually. The district cost per pupil gap has been closed to $135 per pupil (pending signature of SF 167 in 2025).
• Operational Sharing Incentives: expanded and extended through 2035.
• Staff Flexibility: CTE options for hard-to-staff content, minimize the barrier of praxis testing, local offerings of online learning, and relaxed licensure requirements, allowing rural schools to better work with the staff we have to support student learning. Compensation limits for IPERS-eligible individuals were increased in 2022; several other hiring and staffing barriers were removed in 2023, including a shortened bona fide retirement period, minimum teacher pay, and Teacher Salary Supplement in 2024; and flexibility to pay returning retired staff $50k and new salary minimums in 2025.

Download the 2025 Legislative Successes for more details from the most recent legislative session.