Rural Superintendents View Their Role: Ranking the Issues

This paper describes the results of a survey of superintendents, who were asked to identify the most critical issues in managing and running small rural school districts. Thirty superintendents in southeastern Nebraska participated in the study. The problem of finances was the superintendents ' greatest worry. They were also concerned about regional economic conditions, state regulations, salaries, and providing an adequate variety of classes. Superintendents feel that adequate financing of schools is based upon a positive perception of schools by community members, and that school boards are primarily interested in school curriculum. They are positive in their assessment of the overall quality of teachers they employ. Considerable media attention has been focused upon the perceptions of politicians, investigative commissions and the general public regarding the public school. The purpose of this study is to examine the most critical issues in managing and running a school district, as perceived by superintendents of small districts in southeastern Nebraska. Research indicates that superintendents in rural school settings perceive policy making and policy administering in much the same way that superintendents in urbanized school settings perceive these two processes [1; 3]. Fur-thermore, superintendents from differing size school districts generally do not vary in their perceptions of the competency areas [2]. Therefore, the implications of this study should have direct implications to all size school districts. Generally, superintendents perceive lack of finances as being their most difficult problem [4]