Abstract

In the past decade, West Virginia has funded a massive school building program. A one-page "economy ofscale" guideline has driven the entire process. The guideline, developed ex nihilo by the state funding age,!cy, specifies school sizes required for bond-financed funding. I argue that the one-size-fits-all school size requirements are inappropriately large for much of West Virginia. These ostensibly objective guidelines have forced expensive and unnecessary school consolidation throughout sparsely populated areas. Thisforced consolidation is especially detrimental to the education ofthe poorest and most rural students.

How to Cite:

Purdy, D. H., (1997) “An Economical, Thorough, and Efficient School System: The West Virginia School Building Authority "Economy of Scale" Numbers”, Journal of Research in Rural Education 13(3), 170–182.

Rights: Copyright