Ironically I maybe one of the youngest people in West Virginia to go to a one room school house. It was only for kinder garden and shortly after the county closed the school for a modern open class room design that went K trough 8. What I do remember most is everybody knew everybody else, and that is a great learning environment.
Now statistics support my kinder garden experience. Nearly every study ever done says small schools breed better students. Across the state you will usually find the highest average test scores in small schools. When a student is not a number, they have a better learning experience.
The state and county have to achieve a balance between the money they have for schools and the needs of the students. Unfortunately the money has been winning out for years. We have gotten large nondescript buildings that end up being more a place to warehouse kids that to provide them a good learning experience. As we try to compete in the modern global market place we must provide a better place to learn.
We know the solution to provide a better education. That answer is small schools where the students have more one on one interaction with their teachers. Learning problems and special abilities can be identified early. This allows special attention to be given when needed.
The excuse for building large schools has been economies of scale, but we must look beyond that. In many cases increase maintenance may lower cost by keeping our older schools in good shape longer. When it comes to educating our next generation our money should go into best education experience, not the most cost effective building.
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