Education Commons^™

Unique Rural District Politics, Tod Allen Farmer

The Rural Educator

The politics of rural educational leadership are both intense and concentrated. Rural educational leaders need to be savvy and politically skilled if they are to inspire educational stakeholders and accomplish organizational objectives. The local school system is an organization with a political culture that can be characterized as a competitive environment in which various groups from both within and without are competing for power and limited resources. Local school systems are entrusted with both children and tax dollars, two precious resources. Coupled with such entrustment is political input from all points within the political continuum. Schools and politics are inseparable.