Corwith-Wesley and LuVerne have been whole-grade sharing for more than 30 years, but could never merge because the combined districts didn’t meet the 300-student threshold.
Now the two districts may be going to join Algona within the next five years.
I hope to have more about this later.
Note: A Mason City Globe-Gazette article mentions in passing the collapse of the Corn Belt Conference, which Wikipedia says is one of Iowa’s oldest. But in this case realignment is not an effect of money so much as simple attrition.