In many EU countries, urbanization and aging of population present significant challenges for arranging welfare system services including education (EC, 2018). In Finland, the demographic transition has already dramatically shaped the national school network especially in the depopulated rural areas. During the last 20 years, the number of Finnish basic education schools (ISCED 1 &2) has dropped to a half and the average number of pupils per school has doubled (Vallinkoski, 2017). In terms of school transport, particularly pupils in the rural areas spend longer hours commuting to and from basic education. In the population scenarios for future decades, a similar or even an accelerating development is anticipated (FNAE, 2020; MDI, 2022). Social equality, including regional equality, is one of the corner stones of the Nordic welfare state. In Finnish basic education, this take on equality can be witnessed in the ideal of equal education for all regardless of e.g. geographic origin (Kalalahti, 2021). The starting point of this article is that regional and geographical equality is a matter of both spatial (Soja, 2010) and temporal justice (Tyssedal, 2021). By using the recent governmental, regional, and local reports and policy papers as data, the article examines the dynamics of Finnish basic education politics and governance in school network planning and school transport policies. The key theoretical concepts employed in this article are the concept of temporal justice (Tyssedal, 2021) and temporalized politics (Goetz, 2009; Palonen, 2008). Furthermore, the use of a sense of urgency in decision-making and time as a limited resource, are discussed. The authors assert that temporality plays a significant role in the complex dynamics of education policymaking and politics. Limitations posed by time and the urgent solutions needed to ensure the survival of welfare state, are central technologies of modern education governance. At the same time, regional and local politicians need to cater for the needs of their local community to ensure re-election. Finally, the authors argue that an unintended consequence of the school transport and school network policies is a hierarchy in which rural families and children spend most of their time commuting and “quality time” (Tyssedal, 2021) is a privilege reserved to families living in urban areas. Nevertheless, the rural families are by no means powerless. Their agency lies in their freedom and ability to choose a residence that best serves their families´ needs and fits their perceptions of what constitutes a good life.

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