Struggles are real for poor, rural school districts

It’s no secret that America’s school buildings are underperforming, with dire consequences to student and teacher health, wellbeing, and productive learning. It’s estimated that more than 50 percent of school districts need to invest in repairs and/or modernizations to reach an acceptable level, and many don’t have the necessary resources and funding. 

While we could cite some of the staggering statistics, it helps to get a closeup of what this means for students on a daily basis and how it affects their lives and futures.  

One such example is the Mountain Empire School District in California, located east of San Diego near the Mexico border. A recent story in the San Diego Union-Tribune offers an eye-opening look at the numerous conditions that make it so difficult for poorer, rural school districts to provide even a semblance of healthy learning conditions: 

• As San Diego County’s largest district by area, covering 660 miles of mountainous terrain, bus rides can take up to an hour. According to the SDUT story, the district’s busing expenses account for more than 7 percent of its budget. 

• Built in the 1970s, the district’s high school has a cafeteria and gym separated by a divider. But the tracks are broken and too expensive to fix, and the flooring has required costly repairs due to flooding. 

• The high school’s science lab has sinks that don’t drain, windows that don’t open and anatomy books that are 20 years old. One elementary school has no drinking water because of contamination, and another is taped off because the roof is caving in and its toilets are sinking.  

• Absenteeism is a major problem because of the long bus rides, and more class time is missed because of frequent cancellations due to bad weather that makes long bus rides unsafe and repeated school maintenance problems. 

• To boot, nearly two thirds of the student population are low income. According to the story, some students live in trailers or even cars, often without electricity or clean water.

These factors and others in this story make it easy to see how difficult it would be to provide even a semblance of a healthy education to these students. The dedication and caring shown by the school staff, and the impressive resiliency of the students, are the only things that keep hope alive. 

Sadly, this district isn’t the only one in this situation. There are many more across the country facing similar obstacles. But it shouldn’t be this way, and it doesn’t have to be. We must continue to press congress for more federal funding to support and restore our educational infrastructure. 

And we must continue to come up with innovative ways to help improve and repair our crumbling school buildings. CHPS’ new Minor Renovations Program, designed in part to help struggling districts complete repairs and renovations that may be small in size but critical in nature, is an example. But it will take a lot more and requires that all stakeholders work together. It’s a lofty goal, but one well worth shooting for. 

(You can read the full story on the Union-Tribune site here: https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2024/08/25/failing-facilities-behind-one-rural-school-districts-fight-to-keep-students-safe/ . The article also contains a link to an excellent student documentary on the district’s battle.)