For years, students have voiced concerns about the state of some Ames High AP science classes. Despite speeches to the school board and conversations with the superintendent, nothing has changed.

El Rancho High offers 12 AP classes but trying to keep them from closing has become an increasingly concerning issue for the school.

Of the 50 most impoverished rural school districts in the United States, the only ones to offer AP Physics — and most of the AP Biology, AP Computer Science, and AP Statistics classes — were districts ...