This qualitative study used in-depth interviews to investigate the perceptions of school leaders about developing and maintaining school-university partnerships with a local regional university in rural school districts. The professional development school (PDS) model provides meaningful learning experiences for teacher candidates by providing sustained and embedded field experiences in an authentic teaching environment. Participants were current and/or former administrators in the local/regional school-university partnership. All participants were former teachers who later became principals, superintendents, and/or district directors who were well prepared to inform the research questions. Data collected were categorically aggregated and analyzed using coding that resulted five themes: (1) development and value of early partnerships, (2) rural context, (3) school-community culture, (4) teacher perception and participation, and (5) important considerations of initiating the partnership.