UW–Madison’s Bradley Carl, a scientist in the School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research (WCER) and founding co-director of the Wisconsin Evaluation Collaborative, was recently featured on PBS Wisconsin’s “Here & Now.”

In a report by Steven Potter, Carl shared insights on the growing number of rural schools across Wisconsin that are closing permanently — and why those closures matter.

“Dozens of school districts around the state asked voters for $1 billion in ballot referendums in the latest spring election,” said “Here & Now” host Frederica Freyburg in her introduction to the segment. “Much of that money was just to keep the schools open and operating. But many of those referendums failed and that means some schools in rural Wisconsin will permanently close.”

Carl, who studies rural school systems, emphasized the central role schools play in their communities.

“A rural school is the heart and soul and the identity of a community,” he said.

He explained that these small rural schools are missed when they close because they do “so much so well,” as highlighted in the report.

“Things like small class sizes and strong relationships between teachers and students, and strong relationships between school districts and employers in the community,” Carl said, contribute to their impact.

“School districts also provide after school care, before school care, and summer programs, and that has an economic impact in terms of allowing families to work.”

Schools also serve as important social hubs.

“Everyone goes to the basketball games on Friday night or the football games on Friday night, but it’s so much more than that, too. It’s going to the theater productions and the homecoming parade.”

While school closures are not limited to rural areas, they account for a significant share. The report notes that over the last 20 years, more than 600 public schools across Wisconsin have closed. Nearly 40% of them occurred in rural counties of less than 100,000 residents — amounting to roughly 250 rural schools — with declining enrollment a major factor.

“Two thirds, maybe three quarters of the rural districts in Wisconsin, as is the case around the country, are facing declining enrollment,” Carl said. Given the way we fund schools, declining enrollment means declining revenue from the state.”

Read the full report to learn more.