WASHINGTON, Aug. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- A new report releasedtoday by the Rural School and Community Trust suggests that Floridapolicymakers need to pay attention to the needs of their state'srural schools. According to Why Rural Matters: The Need for EveryState to Take Action on Rural Education, Florida is among a numberof states in serious need of an explicit rural education policy.
"While only a small percentage of Florida's population lives inrural areas, Florida has 1.9 million rural people - the ninthlargest number of rural people in the nation," says Marty Strange,policy director for the Rural Trust and one of the report's authors."Nearly one-quarter of Florida's rural students live in poverty, andmany of them are at-risk minorities. Well under half of theexpenditures in rural schools go for instruction. Both classes andschools are relatively large. Because of these factors, we see aserious need for a rural school policy in Florida."
The report marks the first time ever that data on rural Americafrom a wide variety of sources has been compiled and analyzed. Taken together, the data suggest that rural education is far moreimportant than Americans would think from listening to the educationpolicy debate, and that specific policy attention to rural schoolneeds is necessary not only in Florida, but in many other states.
Each state was ranked against the other 49 according to eight"importance" indicators and 11 "urgency" indicators. A rank of 1,in each case, is considered most important or urgent. Florida'sdata and rankings follow:
Importance of Rural Education to the State's Overall EducationalPerformance
.. Indicator.................................. Fla.......Rank
Percentage of population that is rural.... 15.2 pct.... 43
Number of rural people....................1,970,598......9
Percentage of public schools in rural areas.. 7 pct.... 48
Percentage of public school students
....enrolled in rural schools................4.7 pct......48
Percentage of students enrolled in rural
....schools who are minorities..............26.6 pct......15
Average number of students to
average number of grades...................... 90.5......40
Percentage of rural students attending
....small schools............................2.8 pct......47
Percentage of rural students living in
....poverty.................................. 23 pct......12
Urgency of Need for Policy Attention to Rural Education Issues
Indicator......................................Fla..... Rank
Average rural teacher's salary..............$29,026......32
Difference between rural teacher salaries
....and teacher salaries in rest of state.... $1,987......36
Percentage of rural students who are
....free-lunch eligible...................... 42 pct......10
Percentage of rural communities scoring
....below average on the Education
....Climate Index.......................... 27.7 pct......17
Average rural student-to-teacher ratio........ 17.9...... 6
Percentage of rural householders with
....less than 12 years of school............38.9 pct......12
Percentage of rural schools with Internet
....access..................................82.3 pct......35
Percentage of teachers teaching out-of-field
....who are in rural schools................ 9.6 pct......41
Percentage of rural expenditures spent
....on instruction..........................46.6 pct...... 5
Percentage of rural schools with
....enrollments declining by at least 10 pct.. 6 pct...... 50
The "Top Ten" States for Importance and Urgency
Ten states, all in the Deep South, Appalachia, and the GreatPlains, stand out as being in critical need of rural educationpolicy attention. Arkansas, Alabama, Kentucky, Louisiana,Mississippi, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and WestVirginia are the places where rural education is most important andpolicy needs are most urgent. According to Strange, "these regionsare chronically depressed, suffer large areas of out-migration, andare deeply distressed by changes in the global economy." Six ofthese states rank in the top ten in rural student poverty, and allrank in the top one-third in at least six of the urgency indicators.Declining enrollment in schools is widespread in these states,teacher pay is consistently low, and rural adults have low levels ofeducational attainment.
Just because there is a "top ten," however, does not mean thatrural education is unimportant in the other 40 states, cautionsStrange. "No matter where a state scores on these gauges, everychild, including every rural child, is important. And every statecan improve the policy climate within which its rural schoolsoperate. While the rankings in this report are useful inidentifying states where rural education is paramount to goodschooling, they are also useful in identifying states where ruralcommunities' educational needs may be unjustly lost in the politicalshuffle of state politics. No child deserves to be lost in theshuffle."
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Note to editors: Copies of the full report are available. CallKelly Matthews at 202-955-7177.
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The Rural School and Community Trust (Rural Trust) is a nonprofiteducational organization dedicated to enlarging student learning andimproving community life by strengthening relationships betweenrural schools and communities and engaging students in community-based public work. Through advocacy, research, and outreach, theRural Trust strives to create a more favorable environment for ruralcommunity schooling, for student work with a public audience anduse, and for more active community participation in schooling. Founded as the Annenberg Rural Challenge in 1995, the Rural Trusttoday works with more than 700 rural elementary and secondaryschools in 35 states.
KEYWORDS:
EDUCATION/SCHOOLS
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