This paper suggests that the fundamental characteristics of a sustainable community are economic security, ecological integrity, quality of life, and empowerment and responsibility. It also asserts that nurturing these characteristics within a rural school can forge stronger links to community, strengthen the local economic base, encourage students to live within the community, and increase the likelihood that the school will be adequately funded. A school can increase the economic security of its community by encouraging local and national businesses to set up branches within the school, by teaching entrepreneurialism, by establishing small student-run ventures, and by offering local and state incentives to attract business partnerships. Schools can contribute to ecological integrity by reflecting the culture, history, and materials of the community in its design. Schools must add to the quality of life as defined by the community. The paper also suggests that it is important that schools empower students with a sense of responsibility and decision making. Strategies for creating sustainable schools include: responding to the variation in types of rural communities; taking advantage of outside expertise; being sensitive to building design, construction, condition, and outfitting; broadening the search for resources and ideas beyond traditional thinking; assessing community assets; and investigating local, state, and federal funding and partnerships. (SAS)