Last month, the Howard-Winneshiek school board abruptly ended its agreement to let Riceville pick up open-enrolled students near the school district boundary, and a week afterward Riceville reciprocated, the Waterloo Courier reports. Now open-enrolled students will have to find their own way to the other school (or at least the district boundary).
I think this is a consequence of Howard-Winneshiek’s cash crunch, which has led the district to close all buildings outside of Cresco. Open-enrolled students cost the home district money. It will be felt especially in Elma, which is closer to Riceville than Cresco and just lost its school building.
Elma is a notable example of an outlying town that has become distant from its school after decades of consolidations and closures. I would love for districts to mutually agree to smooth out jagged boundaries, but there are a zillion and a half reasons that will never happen, and two zillion and a half if a town of any size (like Elma) is involved.