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Thursday, June 23, 2005
The Plight of Georgia’s Rural Schools
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It’s hard to resist blogging about this story of nepotism run rampant at a Georgia technical college, but I think the rural school’s lawsuit has a greater potential impact.
As Mary MacDonald reports in this story, rural school systems say they cannot adequately educate kids because they lack the local tax base to fund schools. State officials say rural schools should raise property taxes so more money will flow into their schools. Metro school district officials fear they will be expected to send more of their local tax dollars out to rural areas.
It’s a sticky issue. Already wealthier metro districts send millions of dollars to poor districts, but rural systems still can’t offer the services and programs comparable to, say, Cobb County. The problem isn’t just money. It’s about population - not enough kids to benefit from the economy of scale.
Cobb County spent $7,335 per pupil last year, according to the state Department of Education. The rural Quitman County, a member of the consortium suing the state, spent $12,646. Districts like Quitman have a greater percentage of poor children - 96 percent get free or reduced price lunch - so they need more money. But they also struggle because they have so few students. Quitman had just 295 in its lone school for grades prek - 8. (I’m assuming high school kids must go to a neighboring county.)
Obviously the Robin Hood idea doesn’t go over well with many metro Atlanta taxpayers, but should kids in rural schools be denied an adequate education just because they don’t live in the city or the burbs?
