ABSTRACT

The centralisation of American education included many other factors besides larger school districts, though. The field of education became much more professional, and the states began to exercise much more control over the operation of schools, especially with regard to curricula and finance. By the 1970s many states required schools to purchase textbooks from approved lists; likewise, several states sharply curtailed districts' taxing options, the states at the same time taking over much of the responsibility for funding education. Understanding conflict over school closures in the US requires an understanding of the role of schools in American society. Schools, or more correctly education, have a hallowed position in American society. Education is widely seen as the vehicle for social and economic mobility. School closings are political decisions, fraught with all the power struggles of other politics. They are not exercises in achieving justice nor balancing acts for social scientists.