With sensitivity and rigor, Casey Jakubowski demonstrates that rural schools, too often forgotten, remain central to questions of educational equality, self-government, and public goods in the United States. Using a case study from upstate New York, he demonstrates how rural communities in the past and present have come together to help their students thrive.

Campbell F. Scribner, Associate Professor of Education, University of Maryland, USA

For more than 25 years, I've worked alongside superintendents, boards of education, and the New York State Education Department. Rarely have I encountered a work as timely and fascinating as Casey Jakubowski's Settling Conflict in Rural New York Schools. His thesis, historical policy analysis, and case studies not only confirm much of what I've witnessed in practice, but also reveal details hidden deep in the archives-insights I never had the drive or skill to uncover myself. Engaging, disturbing, and illuminating, this book brings to light the history behind state reorganization policy and the conflicts that shaped it. It is important reading for anyone who wants to understand how educational governance is rooted in the enduring and valuable tensions between local and state authority and why they still matter today.

John W. Sipple, Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies, Cornell University, USA