Political Economy of Rural Schools in the Heartland

Abstract The sense of serenity and beauty of a drive through the Heartland often hides the desperation that many communities are experiencing as they struggle to survive. Among the winter wheat fields of western Kansas and Nebraska spaced between the center-pivot irrigated fields of corn and alfalfa, towns and cities struggle to maintain their vitality and quality of life. These communities are slowly giving up the civic institutions that for so many generations provided a sense of worth and pride. Children are bused or drive up to an hour to get to schools and in some of the more remote areas, families take up apartments and second homes "in town" where "mom and the kids live" during the week so they can mitigate the daily commutes. New immigrants fill the void left by the out-migration of young adults and families. They assume jobs that either pay poorly or are considered difficult and monotonous. In many communities, in particular some of the most vibrant communities, English is no longer the dominant language. With over 60% of the school-age students living in homes where English is not the first language, towns in Kansas like Garden City, Dodge City, and Liberal are thriving with the growth in feedlots and meatpacking plants. The social and cultural fabric in many of these communities in the western half of the Heartland is rapidly changing. In eastern Kansas and Nebraska, throughout Iowa, and into southern Minnesota and central Illinois, the price of land increases each year while government corn and soybean subsidies continue to fuel the economy. Though the towns are closer together and more homogenous than their western neighbors, their agriculture-based economy is at risk. The environmental and social cost of CAFOs (concentrated animal feeding operations) cause corporate leaders to consider moving their investments farther west into more sparsely populated regions or to foreign countries such as Mexico, which enjoys the economic trade advantages of NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) and greater freedom from public opposition. Still, the House of Representatives and Senate continue to debate the wisdom and fiscal responsibility of massive commodity payments. What will happen to these rural economies if the Ogallala Aquifer no longer is able to support thousands upon thousands of center-pivot irrigation wells? What will happen to these rural economies if the Federal government reduces agricultural subsidies and commodity payments that support and encourage overproduction of corn and soybeans? What will happen in the Heartland if rural communities with limited resources cannot find new economic opportunities that allow existing families to thrive and encourage the immigration of new families that will provide customers for main street businesses, fill public school classrooms, and pay taxes to support local services and civil society? Answering these questions is vital to the survival of these rural communities. Our analysis focuses on the relationship between rural economies, rural schools, and local leadership. We argue that the future health of rural schools is directly related to the sustainability of their rural communities. Moreover, measuring school success by the standard parameters of student test scores and achievement is meaningless in the overall scheme of defining what a rural community is. In fact, it can be argued that the present social construction of rural education does as much to impoverish rural communities as it does to strengthen the same community. Education is a two edged sword, empowerment vs. endangerment, which demands refraining how we define educational success and how we restructure the school-community connection. Political Economy of Rural Schools Recent reports from the American College Testing Program, Inc. (2006) show performance of Midwest students on this high stakes test continue to improve. Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, and most other states in the Heartland have some of the highest scores in the country, and the highest percentage (60-80%) of students who take this test. …