Rural Schools: Here to Stay

From Leadership for Rural Schools by E. Robert Stephens & Walter G. Turner, published in 1988 by the American Association of School Administrators:

Many states will always have large numbers of rural small school districts. The creation of larger schools districts that make good educational sense should and will receive pubic support, but further use of this policy will be limited. First, the massive school reogranization that touched virtually every state in the immediate post-World War II period rested on a research base that is now widely acknowledged to be flawed. Second, rural interests in many states are better organized today than in the past to resist indiscriminate use of mandated school district consolidation. Third, continued consolidation of districts will be difficult and not cost-efficient in many areas because of the distances involved. And last, alternative ways to provide a good education in rural areas, such as telecommunications, lessen the need for reorganization.

I'm not sure what to think about the statement that the use of consolidation will be limited since the Rural School & Community Trust is holding a School Consolidation webinar on October 22.