Lawmakers to focus on stopping ‘brain drain’
HARRISBURG – A team of lawmakers, educators and business people will spend the next year trying to find ways to stop the “brain drain” in rural Pennsylvania. “Statistics bear out a trend that students educated in rural areas, especially those going on to higher education, don’t return to the communities they grew up in as might be expected,” said state Rep. Jess Stairs, R-Acme, in announcing the creation of the new commission at a Capitol news conference on Thursday.
“One of [our] goals is to investigate the reasons for this trend and to take steps to invigorate rural education and rural economies by encouraging young people to return to rural communities to live and work.”
The Commission on Rural Education will look for ways to improve the quality of education and increase job opportunities in rural Pennsylvania, in order to develop better-educated students and retain their services after graduation.
The group, created by a resolution in the General Assembly, consists of 25 leaders from government, education and business, including Stairs and John Fibbi, director of vocational education at Fayette County Area Vocational Technical School.
It will hold meetings around the state and deliver a final report by June 30, 2004.
“We want to return the best and brightest to our home areas,” said Stairs, chair of the House Education Committee. “The ‘brain drain’ is not only Pennsylvania’s problem, but it’s rural Pennsylvania’s problem specifically.”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 2.8 million Pennsylvanians, or about a quarter of people in the state, reside in rural communities. During the 1990s, the population of 36- to 54-year-olds in those areas increased by seven percent, but the population of 25- to 36-year-olds decreased by eight percent.
Keeping young, educated people in the area is vital to the economy, commission members said. The first step toward retaining them is to improve elementary and secondary schools.
The commission will study a variety of issues, including funding, teacher recruitment, transportation and standardized test scores.
“Young adults need to know that their children will receive a great education at a small town school that puts them on a level with what suburban schools can offer,” said Stairs.
“The perception is that suburban schools can offer students better options, in part because they have a larger tax base that can attract high quality teachers and administrators, and thus can offer more education and extracurricular opportunities.”
A better school system will in turn produce better students, who will hopefully go on to higher learning.
“It’s definitely been a problem in Beaver County,” said commission member Joe D. Forrester, who is president of the Community College of Beaver County.
“Only about one-third of students move onto higher education. Part of my interest is looking at ways we can increase the number going onto higher education and improve the workforce in Pennsylvania.”
But commission members know young people with college degrees and special training won’t return to rural areas unless there are good job opportunities available.
That’s why the commission also will examine economic development in rural communities. Educators and business leaders on the commission said they plan to partner together to create new opportunities.
Work is already under way, as the commission met for the first time on Thursday. Members vowed to find a solution to the “brain drain” problem.
“The purpose of this committee is not to get a report that is going to collect dust that no one will ever see,” Stairs said.
“We are taking this assignment seriously and will endeavor to make a difference.”