Regional Governance in Education: A Case Study of the Metro Area Learning Community in Omaha,Nebraska

This article examines the first regional governance reform in public education, created in the Omaha, Nebraska metropolitan area in 2007. The legislation creating this regional reform, which is called the Learning Community, established a regional governing body, the Learning Community Coordinating Council, consisting of an elected 21-member board. The board oversees a tax-sharing plan that redistributes general revenue, an interdistrict diversity transfer program, and programming aimed at enhancing early childhood and after-school opportunities for low-income students. In this article, we examine the implementation of the Learning Community, evaluating the extent to which the regional governing body has been able to advance the regional goals with which it has been charged. This article also illustrates how, as a result of the regional governance reforms, school districts within the Omaha metropolitan area are reevaluating the very definition of “local community.”