Non-Economic Aspects of School Closures in Rural Communes

Abstract

Unfavorable demographic trends combined with the way educational expenditures are financed force commune authorities, especially rural ones, to close down schools for economic reasons more and more frequently. Apart from a financial one, a closure of a school has other, social dimensions as well. In the article, based on empirical studies, the analysis of those dimension is presented. The hypothesis that the non-economic aspects of school closure do not play a greater role in the long run, do not significantly reduce social support for commune heads and mayors and therefore do not pose a threat to their political interests has been positively verified.