Forty percent of rural Arkansas students still have no Internet access. Many scholars cite declining enrollment and revenues as the major challenges facing rural districts as well as rising special education and health-insurance costs. The cost of special education hit rural areas harder than urban districts because the federal government underfunds the states, leaving localities, which are already poor, to pick up the shortfall. Certainly, in Arkansas, the education association is looking to the legislature, which convenes in January, to increase teachers' salaries and school funding. Small, but well loved But rural schools possess two major advantages that urban schools do not.
Communities love their rural schools.
At Rison High, where graduating classes range from about 30 to 50 seniors, some boarded-up windows have darkened the inside of the halls. Many of the students' parents are chicken farmers or work for the railroad. Most of the citizens went to school here, and the town still turns out on Friday nights for football games.