Wind farms bring windfalls for rural schools, but school finance laws limit how money is spent

Photo caption: Revenue from wind turbines can allow for schools to hire more teachers. RichLegg/E+ via Getty Images. Article by Eric Brunner, Ben Hoen and Joshua Hyman. The Conversation – April 28, 2021.

On the website for the local school district in Blackwell – a town of just over 300 people in rural Texas – school Superintendent Abe Gott says: “We believe that no matter your dreams, you can achieve them from Blackwell, Texas.”

To back that up, the Blackwell Consolidated Independent School District provides a postsecondary scholarship of up to US$36,000 for graduates from the district’s single high school. So far 140 students have benefited from scholarships, according to Gott.

The money that makes this possible came from a $35 million deal the school district brokered with a wind farm company in 2005, part of the massive growth of that sector in Nolan County and Texas.

The spread of wind energy in rural America has been a financial boon to school districts such as the one in Blackwell. However, because of the complexity of how schools are financed, the impact on student achievement is limited,  […]

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