Edwards Campaign Press Release - Edwards To Discuss Six-Point Plans For Rural Schools And Communities During 5-County Swing Through South Carolina

Will make stops in Darlington, Kingstree, Summerton, Walterboro and Ridgeland

Columbia, South Carolina – Today Senator John Edwards will visit South Carolina to discuss his six-point plans for strengthening rural schools and communities during a 5-county swing through the state. Edwards will begin today speaking to students and faculty at Darlington High School before heading to Brown's BBQ in Kingstree to greet supporters. Later Edwards will visit Scott's Branch High in Summerton, a school known historically as the site of the Briggs v. Elliott case, the first test case in what later became Brown v. Board of Education. In Summerton, Senator Edwards will meet with community and school leaders and greet students. In Walterboro, Edwards will take a tour down Main Street before stopping at Hiott's Pharmacy and will end the day in Ridgeline as the keynote speaker for the Jasper County Democratic Party Dinner. During the tour Edwards will discuss his plans for creating opportunities to strengthen and revitalize rural communities and providing additional educational opportunities and resources for both students and teachers in rural schools. For more details on Edward's plan, please see the fact sheets below.

The details of Edwards' events are:

THURSDAY OCTOBER 11th, 2007

11:00 AM

Senator Edwards to address students and faculty

Darlington High School

525 Spring Street

Darlington, South Carolina

1:00 PM

Senator Edwards to greet supporters

Brown's BBQ

809 N. Williamsburg County Highway

Kingstree, South Carolina

3:00 PM

Senator Edwards to address students and community supporters

Scott's Branch High School

9253 Alex Harvin Highway

Summerton, South Carolina

5:15 PM

Senator Edwards to tour downtown

Downtown Walterboro

Walk begins near the fountain and ends at Hiott's Pharmacy

Walterboro, South Carolina

7:30 PM

Senator Edwards to headline Jasper County Democratic Party Dinner

Ridgeland Middle School

3776 Bees Creek Road

Ridgeland, South Carolina

Restoring Hope to Rural South Carolina

Edwards Highlights Six–Part Plans for Rural Schools and Communities

"Rural America has been ignored for too long. The neglect of South Carolina's rural schools illustrates the tragic consequences of a country that has turned its back on these communities. When I'm elected, that is going to end." - John Edwards

Many small towns in South Carolina are struggling: rural families earn 13 percent less than other families, and the ten poorest counties in the state are rural. Rural manufacturing has been hit particularly hard by international trade, outsourcing and automation. Rural schools in South Carolina enroll 32 percent of the state's children but receive only 26 percent of the education funding. These schools are five times more likely to be rated below average or unsatisfactory and often struggle to attract and retain excellent teachers and provide a complete curriculum. [USDA, 2007; RSCT, 2005; SCALJC, 2003]

Born in Seneca, John Edwards knows the struggles of rural South Carolina families and believes that America cannot turn its back on the rural communities that are the keepers of American values like family, work, community and freedom. Today, Edwards outlined a six-part plan to strengthen South Carolina's rural schools and six initiatives to restore economic fairness and help struggling rural communities.

Strengthening Rural Schools

More than 50 years after Briggs v. Elliott, the Clarendon County, South Carolina case that that paved the way for Brown v. Board of Education, predominantly African-American schools in the same rural parts of South Carolina are still being shortchanged.

• Preparing Every Child to Succeed: As president, Edwards will lead the way toward universal preschool by providing resources to South Carolina to help offer "Great Promise" universal high-quality programs for four-year-olds. The first priority will be children in low-income neighborhoods with struggling schools.
• Rewarding Rural Teachers: Edwards will raise pay for teachers in successful high-poverty schools by up to $15,000 a year and offer college scholarships for students who commit to teach in rural schools. He will also create a National Teacher University to train excellent teachers to serve in rural schools and other places they are needed most.
• Creating More Successful Schools: Edwards will invest federal resources needed to build or expand 1,000 more successful schools and help turn around struggling schools.
• Raising Graduation Rates: Only half of all rural South Carolina high school students finish high school in four years, and the rate is even lower in some under-resourced districts with concentrations of children of color and low-income families. Edwards will create multiple paths to graduation such as Second Chance schools for former dropouts and smaller alternative schools for at-risk students. He will keep at-risk students in school with the Striving Readers literacy program and one-on-one tutoring. [RSCT, 2005, CorridorofShame.com]
• Supporting Education Technology: Edwards will invest in distance learning to bring the content of the world's best universities, libraries and museums to rural areas.
• Breaking Down Educational Barriers: One out of six rural students in South Carolina receives special education services. Edwards will reverse the proposed Bush cuts to IDEA special education grants and get Washington on a path to full funding. [RSCT, 2005]

Restoring Economic Fairness

• Investing Seed Money for Rural Recovery: Cultivating small businesses is a promising economic development strategy for rural areas, but only 1 percent of state economic development funds now support local entrepreneurs. Edwards will create the Rural Economic Advancement Challenge (REACH) Fund to bring capital and management expertise to small towns. [RUPRI, 2007]
• Creating the New Energy Economy in Rural America: Renewable sources of energy -- including ethanol, biodiesel, wind and solar -- can make the U.S. independent of foreign oil, cut global warming pollution, and create new industries and hundreds of thousands of jobs in rural America. Edwards will establish the New Energy Economy Fund to jumpstart renewable energies with start-up capital.
• Fighting Rural Poverty: The 11 counties with the highest rates of child poverty in South Carolina are all rural. To eliminate poverty nationwide within 30 years, Edwards will immediately raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012 and then index it, cut taxes for low-wage workers, help workers save and invest and expand affordable housing near good jobs and schools. [Census Bureau, 2000]

Helping Rural Towns And Counties

• Guaranteeing Rural America the Funding It Needs and Is Entitled to: More than half of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's $70 billion in rural development funds has gone to metropolitan regions, suburbs and resort towns like Martha's Vineyard. Edwards will rewrite funding rules to bring resources to needy rural areas. [Washington Post, 4/6/07]
• Improving Rural Health Care: There is a widespread shortage of nurses in rural South Carolina. More than 1,000 nursing jobs are opening up every year in the state. Addressing the shortage would produce more than $139 million in economic benefits and priceless health care benefits. Edwards will pay up to full tuition and fees for 50,000 new students to become nurses if they commit to serve for at least four years where nurses are in critical short supply, including rural clinics and hospitals. He will rewrite unfair Medicare and Medicaid funding formulas and invest in telemedicine to connect local doctors and patients with distant specialists and advanced equipment. He will also address shameful racial and ethnic health disparities with research, preventive and chronic care, and increase diversity among health care professionals. [SREB, 2007]
• Give Back to Rural Firefighters: Edwards will ensure that small-town and volunteer fire departments get the funding and training they deserve by restoring the Rural Fire Assistance program that President Bush has eliminated and supporting the SAFER and the Fire Grant programs. He will also streamline the process for awarding death benefits to fallen public safety officers, prevent the IRS from taxing the modest local benefits volunteers may receive for their service and protect firefighters from losing their jobs while responding to emergences. [NVFC, 2007]

Building One America: A Plan for Opportunity for All Americans

"I believe that everyone in America—regardless of the family you were born into, the color of your skin or the country your family came from—should have an equal chance to build a better life." - John Edwards

There are still Two Americas—one favored and the other forgotten. While they are not defined by race, the Two Americas have a disproportionate impact on people of color and in many ways reflect the tragic history of race in this country. The hateful legacy of racism—slavery, segregation, and then discrimination—continues to be felt in every single part of American life.

For example, the economic impact is apparent in the racial wealth gap: African Americans have less than a dime in assets for every dollar that white families have. Current economic policies have Americans growing apart: between 2001 and 2005, the top 1 percent of households gained $268 billion of total income and the bottom 90 percent lost $272 billion ($2,071 per household). [Demos, 2006; EPI, 2007]

As someone who grew up in the segregated South, John Edwards feels a special responsibility on the issue of race in America and has made equality of opportunity the central tenet of his campaign. To build One America and make sure everyone has the same chances that America has given to him, he supports:

Guaranteeing Health Care for Every American

Forty-five million Americans – including one out of five African Americans – don't have health insurance. Families with insurance struggle to pay skyrocketing premiums and co-payments. Edwards is the only major candidate with a specific plan for truly universal health care that takes on the insurance and drug companies and provides better care at a lower cost. He will address shameful racial and ethnic health disparities with new research, preventive care without co-payments, pro-active treatment for chronic diseases and increased diversity among health care professionals.

Strengthening Schools So Every Child Can Succeed

More than 50 years after Brown v. Board of Education, our education system remains shockingly unequal. In some areas, African-American students have only about a 50 percent chance of graduating from high school. States spend $900 less per student in their most diverse school districts. Edwards will invest in teacher pay and training to attract teachers where we need them most; reduce class sizes; create second-chance schools and take other steps to help dropouts get back on track; expand preschool; and strengthen high school curriculum. Edwards has also proposed providing new federal resources to promote economic diversity in schools, while supporting additional steps to promote racial integration as well. He will also make college more affordable through his College for Everyone program that will pay the first year of public-college tuition, books and fees for students willing to work part-time and stay out of trouble. [Urban Institute, 2004; Weiner & Pristoop, 2006]

Ending the Disgrace of Two Criminal Justice Systems

Our prison population has increased more than tenfold in the course of a single generation, with a disproportionate impact on African-American communities. Edwards will reform sentencing rules to address the disparity in punishments for crimes involving crack and powder cocaine and limit mandatory minimum sentences for first-time, non-violent offenses. Edwards supports alternatives to incarceration – such as drug courts – for first-time, non-violent offenders as well as re-entry programs that include drug treatment, literacy education and training to help ex-offenders get back on their feet.

Creating Safe and Affordable Housing

More new jobs have been created in the suburbs, outside the inner cities where many African-Americans live and beyond the reach of mass transit. African-Americans have the lowest homeownership rate in the country. Predatory lenders have targeted African-American homeowners. Edwards will promote economically integrated neighborhoods, enforce fair housing laws, encourage more affordable housing, create more than 1 million new housing vouchers and crack down on the scourge of predatory mortgage lending.

Protecting the Right to Vote

Forty years after the Voting Rights Act, we still have more work to do to ensure a meaningful right to vote for every American regardless of their skin color. Edwards will restore the right to vote in all federal elections to ex-offenders who have served their sentences. Edwards supports secure and accessible voting ballots for all voting machines. Edwards believes we should allow voters to register on Election Day, ending the fiasco of purge lists, provisional ballots and voter registration intimidation, and he opposes voter photo identification legislation, which disproportionately disenfranchises racial and ethnic minorities.

Ending Poverty in America

Every day, 37 million Americans wake up in poverty, including one out of every four African Americans. Edwards has set a goal of eliminating poverty within a generation by strengthening families, helping workers save and get ahead, reaching overlooked rural areas, and expecting people to help themselves by working whenever they are able. To reward work, he will create 1 million stepping stone jobs, raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012, expand the earned income tax credit and strengthen labor laws to make it easier for workers to join a union. He will also help working families build wealth by matching their savings through Work Bonds and Get Ahead tax credits and taking on abusive lenders. [Census Bureau, 2006]

Helping Small Businesses

Entrepreneurship has always given minority communities a toehold in the American economy. Edwards will increase federal contracting opportunities for minority-owned small business and use the power of the federal government to help small business. To help businesses offering health care, the Edwards health care plan will eliminate at least $130 billion a year in wasteful health care spending and reduce the cost of a typical family policy by $2000 to $2500 a year. And new Health Care Markets will bring down costs for small businesses through negotiating power and administrative efficiencies, making it easier for them to care for their employees.

Environmental Justice

The devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita – and their disparate impact on African-American communities living in the low-lying neighborhoods of the Gulf – is perhaps the most vivid example of why environmental justice is a matter of life and death. Proximity to toxic wastes is correlated more closely with race than with any other factor. Pollution and brownfields are concentrated in low-income neighborhoods where big corporations think that the people will not fight back. To give communities the tools to defend their rights, we must maintain access to the courts and disclose the risks of plants. African-Americans have high rates of environmental-related illnesses, like asthma and lung cancer, because nearly three-quarters live in areas in violation of Clean Air Act standards. We must enforce the Clean Air Act strongly across the country. John Edwards is committed to equal justice for all Americans, and that includes environmental justice. [Mohai, 2007; Lowery et al., 2002 ]

Enforcing Civil Rights Laws

Our laws are only as good as the men and women who enforce and interpret them. In many cases, President Bush's key agency appointees and judicial nominees have had questionable commitments to equality under law. Edwards is committed to strengthening the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, choosing judges who are committed to protecting civil rights, not undermining them, and appointing officials who vigorously enforce our civil rights laws.

Closing the Digital Divide

Forty percent of African Americans don't have access to the Internet. African-American children are about 35 percent less likely to have a computer and Internet at home than white children. As president, Edwards will establish a national broadband policy with a goal of giving all U.S. homes and businesses affordable access to real high-speed internet by 2010 and prohibit telephone and cable companies from discriminating against rural or low-income communities in building their networks.