Counter to what urban schools have struggled to endure, most rural counties in North Carolina have had to contend with declining enrollment since 1997. Forty-six of 85 rural counties in the state have incurred a steady decline in the student population over the years. One of the hardest-hit regions is eastern North Carolina.
Enrollment at the Hyde County Public School System, for example, has diminished from 808 students during the 1997-98 school year to 654 in 2004-2005. Many factors have caused the decrease, school Superintendent Brock Womble said.
“The general analysis of why we’re declining is that we just don’t have the job industry, we have an older generation living here and we’re just not having younger people come into the county,” he said. “We’ve dropped, and I don’t see us getting larger anytime soon.”
The smaller the school system becomes, the more money it loses, making it more difficult to manage the resources it has, Brock said. The smaller school population also means the district can’t offer the variety of subjects that it once did.
Because of its rural nature, Hyde County can’t consolidate its schools or administration more than it already has in order to save resources and money, Brock said. Several administrators are doing double duty, working in both the office and classroom.
The county’s geography also makes the situation difficult, Brock said. For example, two of the county’s schools are one-hour’s distance away from each other. One school is on Ocracoke Island, which is two-and-a-half hours away by ferry, or four hours away by car.
“We try to remain as cost-effective as we can,” Brock said. “We continue to think of ways to meet all of our variety of student’s needs, but we can’t consolidate more than we already have. We are trying our best to manage the resources we have, but the smaller we become, the more difficult it is. The challenges are greater all the time.”
Another hard-hit area of low or diminished student population growth is western North Carolina.
Transylvania Public School Superintendent Sonna Lyda said the loss of three major industries and lack of affordable family housing triggered a five-year trend of losing students. However, the school system is now stabilizing and Lyda doesn’t anticipate another drop in enrollment over the next few years.
The Caswell County Public School System, in north central North Carolina, has lost 370 students, a little more than 10 percent of its student body, since the 1997-98 school year.
However, Caswell County School Superintendent Douglas Barker attributed the loss to factors other than the local economy. “A major change in our demographics in recent years is the charter school located in our county,” he said. “Approximately 300 children attend there that used to go to our schools. Also, our population has remained steady, but in recent years there has also been lower birthrates than normal.”
Some rural counties have been spared a loss of numbers, based on their location next to larger metropolitan areas. Enrollment at the Alamance County-Burlington Public School System has grown from 19,755 students in 1997-98 to 21,875.
The county’s low tax rate has attracted families whose parents work in larger population centers, Superintendent James Merrill said. “Our western border butts up to Guilford and Greenville,” he said. “People live here, but commute out. They are getting the best of both worlds — a small town feel with the larger urbanized area nearby.”
There is a downside to the growth, however. Merrill attributes half the increase to an influx of Latino students, most of whom are illegal immigrants, further putting a strain on the school system.
Karen Welsh is a contributing editor for Carolina Journal.