RURAL SCHOOL CONSOLIDATION A Decade of School Consolidation with Detailed Information from 105 Consolidated Schools By TIMON COVERT Specialist in School Finance, Office of Education Introduction The United States Office of Education began to collect statistics pertaining to consolidated schools regularly about 1918. Before that date little statistical information concerning the centralization of rural schools on a nation-wide basis was available; every two years since then the State departments of education have been requested to report the number of consolidated schools, the number established, and the amount spent for pupil transportation; in 1928 much more complete information relative to these schools was requested from each State department of education. The term "consolidated school" has so many different meanings that it is difficult to collect comparable data relative to the centralization of rural schools in the several States. In some States this term, or one with a similar meaning, is defined by law and schools conforming to the designated type are so classified; in others no legal designation is provided. Schools classified as consolidated range from small elementary schools, formed when two smaller schools or districts unite, to large union schools maintaining both elementary and secondary departments. In a few States application of the term "consolidation" depends more on the size of the district than on the manner of its formation. In some States, although consolidation of rural schools is a well-established policy of educational improve 116386-30-1 1 ment, statistics concerning such schools are not segregated in county and State reports. These differences have made the comparison of data difficult. However, in Part I of this study an attempt has been made to bring together data on the growth in the consolidation movement and factors affecting this movement which may be of interest to those working in this field. In order to show results of efforts to improve education in rural areas by means of consolidation, detailed information concerning a number of schools formed by unionization is presented in Part II of this study. Consolidation is an administrative device to make possible better educational opportunities and it is hoped that data showing what these modern schools are like will serve a useful purpose in connection with a review of their growth in numbers over a period of years. I.-A Decade of School Consolidation, 1918–1928 Growth in the Consolidation Movement Increase in number of consolidated schools. During the period in which regular statistics on consolidated schools have been collected there has been a rather constant increase in the number of such schools. Table 1 shows, by States, the number of consolidated schools reported to the United States Office of Education for each biennial period during the decade 1918-1928. The totals show that the average yearly increase was well over 1,000. The greatest increase appears for the biennium 1918-1920. This is due to the fact that only 28 States reported in 1918, whereas 42 reported two years later. State TABLE 1.-Number of 1-room and consolidated schools, 1918-1928 7 Number schools with public transportation. Complete townships; about 200 townships are partially consolidated. • Rural or rural village schools with 2 or more teachers. 10 Towns of fewer than 10,000 population having most schools consolidated. 11 Schools for white children. 11 Schools with average attendance of fewer than 40. |