This is National School Board Week, a good time to thank those dedicated people who spend long hours taking a lot of grief for matters over which they have little or no control.

Let’s face it. School board members are dealt a rough hand. They are criticized for schools taking the lion’s share of county budgets. At the same time, a good portion of those budgets is mandated by the state and federal government.

They’re continually caught in the middle of personnel issues. And, with dwindling rural populations, they’re tasked with improving education with fewer tax dollars.

Often, particularly in smaller communities, they find themselves forced to consolidate with another school district out of necessity for mutual survival. At that point, their job actually becomes disbanding their school district, something that evokes resentment from people who want to keep things as they always have been.