Dear Editor,

There is a survey question on the Times-Journal’s website that says, “Would you consider it a good idea of the Selma City Schools and the Dallas County School System merging?”  The enrollment in public rural school districts continues to drop throughout the United States. This decrease in student enrollment is a factor that attributes to a decrease in funding for rural school districts. It has become very difficult to financially maintain some rural public schools. Many have been closed, and school administrators are contemplating further closings.  It is not a popular administrative decision to close a school.

Families are moving to the suburbs. Data from the National Center for Education Statistics indicates that over half of all operating regular school districts and about one-third of all public schools are in rural areas.  However, only about one-quarter of all public school students are enrolled in rural schools.  Moreover, a larger percentage of rural children live in poverty than suburban children.

Studies indicate that the percentage of rural children living in poverty is greatest in the South, followed by the West and Northeast.  According to the United States Census Bureau, in 2012, approximately 21 percent of school-aged children in the United States were in families living in poverty. The percentage of school-aged children living in poverty ranged across the United States from 11 percent in North Dakota to 32 percent in Mississippi.

One solution to remedy the plight of rural education is to consolidate rural public school districts where there are patterns of a steady decrease in student enrollment.  Many single schools have already been consolidated.

It is a power struggle among some individuals to combine rural school systems. People want to maintain autonomy.  Nonetheless, it is fiscally sound to do so. Many factors are considered before school leaders close schools and consolidate entire rural school districts.

 

Gerald Shirley

Selma