AP classes are usually the first item on the chopping block, whatever the relative quality of the District, rural or urban. When I was in High School, advanced classes were dumped while the District built a new football field. I ended up twiddling my fingers the entire Senior year.
AP classes are a waste of time and money. Students are required to get either a 4 or 5 on the exam to get full credit. Students are much better off taking Dual enrollment classes through one of the local (community) colleges. Generally it is less expensive than going to the college directly and they college and High school credit. At my school students actually get 25-30 percent more information/ practice than at the college. The local College meets for 3 hours per week over 15 weeks, plus one day for exams, total 45 hours. My students meet for 7.5 hours per week over 16 weeks. Total 120 possible hours. Minus time for fire drills, class meetings, etc... that is 100 hours. Instead of a final exam they work on a Final project over about 3 weeks that is a real world problem. Last years Architecture class had to design an ICU for a local hospital. They had to find out what equipment was needed, staffing requirements, etc.... They had to figure out what was the most efficient design, how to centrally store items used on a regular basis, how many crash carts they would need and where to locate them. They had to determine if sliding doors were better than hinged doors, ideal size for windows.
Don't even get me started on the stuff my Engineering students have worked on. Everything from Bullet proof backpacks to an automatic check in and sorting system for library books.
