Abstract
The Rural Education Bureau of the New Mexico Public Education Department has established a program to address the special needs of schools and communities in the extensive rural areas of the state. High poverty rates, depopulation and a general lack of viable economic opportunity have marked rural New Mexico for decades. The program underway aims at establishing holistic community socioeconomic revitalization at the grass roots level with the schools playing a leading role. Initiatives include community conversations with key leaders to determine necessary steps to take in encouraging economic growth and attracting businesses, the institution of entrepreneurship within the community, the transformation of the school into a community resource and the encouragement of place-based education within schools. In the second year of this program there are 13 school districts actively involved in the enhancement of their schools and community. The program adopted many of the principles for rural revitalization seen in the remote communities of South Australia.
Highlights
Background to the New Mexico RuralRevitalization InitiativeSoon after his inauguration in 2003 as governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson initiated a series of studies to identify areas of need within the state
One of the studies focused on critical needs in rural education
The study group identified problems related to transportation, declining enrollments, reduced per-student state funding, limited or non-existent access to educational technology, administrative overload brought on by staff shortages and difficulty attracting and retaining good teachers
Summary
Background to the New Mexico RuralRevitalization InitiativeSoon after his inauguration in 2003 as governor of New Mexico, Bill Richardson initiated a series of studies to identify areas of need within the state. The diversity of New Mexico’s population, the high levels of poverty found regionally within the state and the remoteness of its extensive rural communities create significant challenges to the state’s education system.
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