Examines evidence on the effects of school and school district size in light of the educational reform movement and increasingly sophisticated telecommunications. Discusses an emerging technology of individualization that could alter conceptions of optimal school size. Focuses on New York studies. Contains 35 references. (SV)

Motivated by the widespread assumption that voluntary, independent inter-district resource sharing is a strategy for improving educational opportunities in rural areas (with little or no cost to the operation of the school district), this paper critically examines resource sharing in New York State. A review of the literature between 1960 and the…

The relationship between the costs of schooling and the size of school districts is discussed. The first section of this paper provides a critical survey of what economists have written about economies of scale and questions whether bigger is really cheaper or more efficient, as is generally found in commercial endeavors. The second section…