Small rural districts across the state will share $17.7 million in sparsity aid for general school operations, which will be paid on the third Monday in September.

For the 2016-17 school year, 141 districts qualified for sparsity aid based on enrollments of 745 or fewer students and membership of less than 10 pupils per square mile of the district’s geographic area. Four school districts will receive aid in the coming school year that didn’t qualify last school year: Boyceville Community, Chequamegon, Montello, and Shiocton. Two districts, Erin and Spring Valley, received aid in the...