The future of our local rural classrooms just got a little brighter! On January 29th, students from across the region gathered for the inaugural meeting [...]

While there are a lot of education conferences in Illinois, our event is the first one catered to the rural and small school perspective. If [...]

President Trump signed H.R. 1383, the Secure Rural Schools Reauthorization Act of 2025, into law on December 22, 2025, after bipartisan support moved it through [...]

Thank you to OneGoal for your support of our mission to advocate and be the VOICE of Illinois rural and small schools! The Association of [...]

This Thanksgiving season, we’re celebrating the incredible variety of CTE programs that help students build real-world skills and bright futures. We asked you to share [...]

Co-authored by David Ardrey, Executive Director, Association of Illinois Rural and Small Schools and Roger Eddy, Former Executive Director, Illinois Association of School Boards This [...]

AIRSS Joins Hundreds of Organizations in Condemning Sweeping Cuts to the U.S. Department of Education

The Illinois Report Card is an annual report released by the Illinois State Board of Education, detailing how schools, districts, and the state as a [...]

Rural teachers need to be elevated and celebrated. For all the conversations and challenges we hear about our public education system, it is all too [...]

MACOMB, IL –The National Rural Education Association (NREA) recently launched the 2025 Why Rural Matters report, a project with a more than 20-year history of [...]

The AIRSS team looks forward to seeing you at this year’s Joint Annual Conference! We have several sessions featuring AIRSS leadership, including the return of [...]