For some medium-sized cities, the inner suburbs are still relatively new and dynamic. Outside Tulsa, Okla., for example, the Broken Arrow School District saw the 8 to 10 percent enrollment growth of the 1980s slow to a manageable 3 percent in the past decade. Similar good news can't be reported in many isolated rural communities, which experienced a steady loss of population. In largely rural North Dakota, for example, half of the state's counties lost at least 10 percent of their population and eight counties lost at least 20 percent. That trend has hit rural schools hard.
Nobody wants to lose the school.
Once that goes, pretty much any remaining businesses could go, too. Because there will be nobody here. Copyright 2001, National School Boards Association. This article may be printed out and photocopied for individual or educational use, provided this copyright notice appears on each copy. This article may not be otherwise transmitted or reproduced in print or electronic form without the consent of the Publisher.