This paper studies trends in education and changes in political thinking that have accompanied rural to urban migration and the emergence of industrial society since the turn of the century. Nowhere is this shift reflected more clearly than in the centralization and consolidation of public schools. Because education is constitutionally a state function, it is at this level that most political action takes place which affects rural schools. There are few examples of action at the local level that influence or resist outside (centralized) control. The development of People United for Rural Education (PURE), a Nebraska organization to monitor and influence legislation, is one such example. Similar groups in other states are described. Few rural champions have existed at the federal level in recent years. Conventional wisdom assumes that rural economic problems are taken care of through farm policy. Examples of federal legislation that discriminate against rural areas are cited. Such discrimination is not likely to get better. States with large rural populations are estimated to lose representation in the House of Representatives, a trend that is expected to continue after 1990. Given statistical documentation and examples of policy discrimination, deliberations in Congress have resulted in a legislative proposal for a "Rural Rights Act" and rural issues have found their way on the agenda of other national legislative conferences. This paper concludes with the hope that such renewed interest in rural problems will translate into a growing sensitivity to those problems by people involved in the legislative process. (TES)