Rural Leaders and Education Policy: Innovative Practices for Political Engagement

Education draws upon cultural values and economic hopes for future generations, making it inherently political. In the United States, political divisions have widened in recent years, manifesting, in part in debates over schooling in communities across the country. The potential for local conflict makes it necessary for rural education leaders to navigate increasingly politicised school environments in order to provide an equitable education for their students and a respectful work environment for their staff. In this chapter, we examine salient literature on rural leaders, policymaking, and political practice. We then offer leadership imperatives for rural administrators to facilitate their extra/local political engagement. Finally, we utilise authentic cases of rural leaders to illustrate the ways these imperatives can be implemented in practice.