via National Opportunity to Learn
Recent data released by the US Department of Education and the Hechlinger report revealed that funding disparities between rich school districts and poor school districts increased by 44% over the last decade. According to the National Opportunity to Learn, there is a funding gap of $1,500 per student.
Last week, the White House announced Rural Impact, an initiative to address the issue of increasing rural child poverty. According to the White House Rural Council’s official site, Rural Impact is an interagency effort which will take a “multi-generational approach to how public and private resources are invested in rural families and communities.” It will focus on the three major areas of “innovation, awareness and investment” and will receive support from the President, Cabinet officials, universities, foundations, nonprofits and community groups. The initiative will capitalize on present ongoing Administration efforts to address issues faced by children and families, particularly those in rural areas. The initiative aims to draw much-needed attention towards rural poverty, as too often, the focus on urban poverty public has dominated public policy.
Suicide rates among youth ages 10 to 24 are nearly twice as high in rural communities than in urban areas, according to a recent study by the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center.
You can read the EdWeek article here.
EdWeek | Youth Suicide Rates Higher in Rural Areas
Last week, a working group hired by the University of North Carolina’s (UNC) Governors’ Board published a report recommending the closing of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity. The center is housed by the UNC school of law and is “a non-partisan, interdisciplinary institute designed to study, examine, document, and advocate for proposals, policies and services to mitigate poverty in North Carolina and the nation.” The center operates on an annual budget of $120,000 and receives no funding from the state, relying only on grants secured through 2016. Should the center be shut down, this funding will need to be returned. The proposed closing has drawn criticism and opposition on both a local and national level, with statements released by the UNC School of Law and the American Association of University Professors defending the center and its director, law professor Gene Nichol.