Abstract

In this article, I aim to detail the legal historical influences at work on behalf of the State's authority to establish, revise,anddisestablish schools anddistricts within its jurisidiction. Local outcriesagainstconsolidation comprisea largepartof thedetailrecounted here,but theacts of legislaturesand thejudgments of thecourts have clearly tended to legitimate the State's authority. Occasionally, local citizens win procedural reprieves. The historical tendency is not likely to be reversed on legal grounds, but the security of the State's authority in this realm my be in doubt if territoriality should no longer form the basis of schooling in postindustrial society.

How to Cite:

Howley, C. B., (1993) “A Territorial Imperative: The Authority of the State to Reorganize Public Schools and Districts”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 9(2), 74–83.

Rights: Copyright