Multiple regression analysis of data from West Virginia school districts revealed that 41 percent of interdistrict differences in higher education enrollment rates was explained by percentage of disadvantaged students, percentage of students in college preparatory curriculum (strongly related to income and rurality), and student/teacher ratio.…

The West Virginia School Building Authority has arbitrarily emphasized economies of scale as a requirement for statewide facilities funding. This requirement has forced consolidation in sparsely populated areas with resultant "diseconomies of scale" related to transportation costs, increased dropout rates, and decreased parental and…