PORTLAND, Maine (AP) The federal government has decided to delay changing the way it determines funding for rural education after a bipartisan group of lawmakers said the move would hurt hundreds of schools.

The U.S. Department of Education had planned to the eligibility methodology for the Rural Low-Income Schools Program.

A group of senators led by Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire said the change would take eligibility away from more than 800 rural, low-income schools this year.

They said late Wednesday the department has decided to put off the changes for at least a year.