School rezoning, or redistricting, is the process by which school boards draw and redraw school attendance boundaries. These boundaries are key drivers of racial and economic school segregation but can also work to ameliorate it. Using a critical orientation to narrative policy analysis, this study examined the cultural politics of race and…

In June 2007 the Governor of Maine signed legislation that required the state's 290 school administrative units (SAUs) to seek partners for a reorganization that would reduce the number of SAUs to approximately 80 Regional School Units (RSUs) (Maine State Legislature, 2007). This policy initiative is the first reorganization of Maine's school…

Financial conditions and new demands suggest that Iowa school districts will continually struggle to satisfy state and community needs. Given this situation and districts' opportunities for seeking alternative arrangements, the recent trend in school closings and district reorganization is likely to continue through the year 2000. This study…

This paper reports on a study assessing the viability of the non-K-12 organizational form as currently practiced in New York State. The study involved 26 non-K-12 sending districts (small elementary schools) and 29 K-12 receiving districts. Results are based on pupil test score performance at the secondary level and on 692 responses to a parent…

The number of public high school districts in North Dakota declined from 256 to 186 during 1970-94; 22 school districts were eliminated in the last 5 years of that period. A survey was conducted in eight communities (four pairs) that had gone through school district consolidation and school closing during 1991-94. Community populations in 1994…

The history, administration, and governance of the Washington Community College System (WCCS) are analyzed in this seven-part report prepared for the state legislature. Part I presents background information on the WCCS's role and mission, history, students, programs, personnel, facilities, finances, student costs, and future. Part II discusses…

This study examines five case studies of proposed school consolidations. None of the five proposed consolidations were voted by their constituents into reality. This report also examines the curricular impact that these variables have upon the secondary course offerings available as well as the lessons learned from 11 Committee of Ten members.…

One of the results of rural school district consolidation has been the potential for schisms that develop among the divergent populations with distinct traditions, culture, and customs. This paper presents research on an Appalachian school district that remains in cultural turmoil after 25 years of consolidation. The population of the three…

Because magnet schools restructure school and district attendance area boundaries in order to achieve racial heterogeneity, they attempt to disassemble the very unit towards which the Education Consolidation and Improvement Act Chapter 1 program targets its resources--neighborhood schools attended by poor children. A nine-district survey of the…