Rural Trust Praises New Report Linking Rural Poverty, Education Issues

6/19/2002

From: Kathy Westra of Rural School and Community Trust, 202-955-7177

WASHINGTON, June 19 -- The Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) today praised a new report from Save the Children highlighting the problems faced by the 2.5 million children who live in poverty in rural America. The report, America's Forgotten Children: Child Poverty in Rural America, paints a picture of a largely ignored America, where one in six children lives below the poverty line, where a disproportionate number of poor rural children belong to racial minority groups, and where pockets of extreme and persistent poverty are concentrated in six rural regions of the country: Central Appalachia, the Deep South and Mississippi Delta, the Rio Grande border, the Southwest, the Central Valley of California, and remote American Indian reservations, particularly in the Dakotas. In all of these areas, substandard education is one of the many challenges facing the rural poor.

"This report reminds us that rural America matters. It shines a bright light on problems that are largely unknown to most Americans -- and that are largely ignored by education policymakers," said Rachel Tompkins, president of the Rural Trust. "Its recommendations on rural education policy are important and deserve to be heard."

Among the rural education issues highlighted in the report are: -- Less money per student spent on education. Metropolitan school districts spend a total of $7,010 per student; rural districts spend $5,302 -- more than $1,700 less. -- Higher dropout rates among rural students -- 20 percent of rural students drop out, compared to 15 percent of urban students. -- Increased school consolidation in rural areas, despite evidence that smaller schools are better, especially for poorer children. -- A high incidence of racial segregation in rural school districts, particularly in the rural South. -- Long school bus rides -- sometimes up to three hours each way over rough roads to schools far from home. -- Few opportunities for rural youth to participate in community service programs.

Tompkins particularly praised the report's emphasis on keeping small, community schools open, and on rethinking public policies that have forced small schools to close. "Our research has shown that small schools work, particularly for kids who live in poorer communities," she said. "The predictable impacts of poverty on student achievement are reduced -- often dramatically -- when schools are smaller. We agree with the report's authors that preserving small rural schools needs to be a high priority."

The full report is available online at http://www.savethechildren.org.

The Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) is a national nonprofit organization rooted in rural America. The Trust works with a network of schools and community groups striving to improve the quality of education and community life and to improve state policy on education. Rural Trust works across the nation, but especially in those rural places distressed by historic patterns of poverty and racism or stressed by declines in population, major changes in population composition, and fundamental economic change. Its mission is to help rural schools and communities get better together. Its vision is one of vibrant, thriving, sustainable rural communities with high-quality schools.

For more information, visit the Web site at http://www.ruraledu.org.