From the article: "The state’s rural schools faced unique challenges during each phase of the pandemic. Recent test scores from the 2022 National Educational Progress Assessment—the nation’s report card for K–12 schools—show just how much damage the COVID-19 pandemic and related school closures wreaked on learning. These declines in academic learning and social-emotional wellbeing underline the need to improve school conditions and accelerate student learning throughout the nation. Today the county is leveraging pandemic related stimulus money to upgrade equipment and expand capacity further."