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~ ~ ~ l ~ 3: ~ ~emcl;ltil~e
~ l i omandate\ n \ilill continue to publiclv promote more accountabilitv
and hmce better educ:ltion. will pri~atelv tighten the noose on small schools.
It's Very difficult to argue with accountability and promotion of higher standards.
policymakers :Ire on solid round and it makes for good speech material at election time. In
1998. \rllien thc Iowa legislature passed HF 2272, it \itas assumed by policymakers that this
piece of le~isl;~tion ulould usher in the next round of school consolidations in the state. If the
arinc hcili ties of many small districts could be deemed to not meet the educational needs of
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students. or if students were not performing as desired, it could be possible that districts would
be forced to combine with neighborin: districts.
HF 2372 wasn't the first time such legislation had been passed. As recently as 1988
standards for schools had been implemented that precipitated sharing of teachers and students
umon_r se\-eral school districts across the state. This ultimately led to reorganization between
the participatinr diqtrictq. This process \vas further promoted by lesislation providins
tinanc~;~l inc.cnti\ c\ ro di\rricr\ 10 reor~nnize by July 1. 1993. A strong argument might be
nl:rilr* th;~t I-IF 2272 rccluircrncnt\ \!.ere intentionally desisned to result in another round of
\c.hool c.lo\inr\ and rcnrgr~nization~.
Inlpli';~t~i~n 4: The nirnl "l~fc\t\.le" a< 14.e kno\v it will continue to decline.
Rur;ll Io\is;r i\ lo\inc the filrnilv farms. the small businecses. and ultimately the people.
One inter\*iea.ce in [hi\ qodv put it [he becl \vhen she wid. .'\Ye can do all of the wonderful
~hinp uvv do. Rut if a-e don't h;l\?e ;In! children. it's not ping to make an!. diffe~nce-"
51;my of tllc \nl;lllc\l di\triCtq in ]~\vn are no\v facine entire ende le\els with -lust a handful of
\tudca[\. Dislric[\ lh;1t ll:ld heen ;~hle lo justify [nro sections at each ~ dlevel e
"~rc;~[i~~l\r" nlllll>ininr some s,,l:lll gr;lde le~~].: or placinp a ~~~~intes in clllssm@ms lo lo\ver
now