University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

How do we know? Determining school district fiscal and administrative policy in rural Hispanic boomtowns in the Midwest

Nesse, Katherine

Content Files
Nesse_Katherine.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/30897

Description

Title
How do we know? Determining school district fiscal and administrative policy in rural Hispanic boomtowns in the Midwest
Author(s)
Nesse, Katherine
Issue Date
2012-05-22T00:13:53Z
Director of Research (if dissertation) or Advisor (if thesis)
Edwards, Mary M.
Doctoral Committee Chair(s)
Edwards, Mary M.
Committee Member(s)
  • Miraftab, Faranak
  • Wilson, Bev
  • Alexander, S. Kern
Department of Study
Urban & Regional Planning
Discipline
Regional Planning
Degree Granting Institution
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Degree Name
Ph.D.
Degree Level
Dissertation
Date of Ingest
2012-05-22T00:13:53Z
Keyword(s)
  • public goods
  • communicative planning
  • government
  • school districts
  • Midwest
  • Hispanics
Abstract
Understanding the needs and desires of a community is one of the objectives of a democratic government. This is what we are expressing when we vote for candidates or referenda. However, the voting system does not always work to accurately reveal the preferences of a community. In addition to voting, governments often try to employ other mechanisms to understand the public’s preferences. One such mechanism is communicative planning. In communicative planning, the community’s preferences are revealed not through voting but through dialog with one another. By conversing with one another, we learn about ourselves and others and are changed through the process. Ultimately, the preferences are revealed through effective arguments. Using the Midwest as a laboratory to test whether communicative planning is being employed effectively as a preference revelatory tool, I demonstrate that districts do not fully implement communicative planning to understand the new Hispanic community and Hispanics are having little direct impact on fiscal and administrative decisions. However, these results are consistent with an institutional approach to communicative planning where not only are individuals influencing the governments that surround them but those governments play a significant role in shaping the activities of individuals. Many of the reasons that a communicative process was not implemented were a result of institutional factors specific to the school district. Incorporating these institutional factors into a quantitative model would better predict the impact that community members have on fiscal and administrative changes. In addition, awareness of the institutional factors that could impact the planning process and the willingness to respond to them on the part of district administrators would help them institute a more communicative process.
Graduation Semester
2012-05
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/30897
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2012 Katherine Nesse

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Graduate Theses and Dissertations at Illinois
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Dissertations in Regional Planning