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State May Ax San Diego's Last-Standing One-Room Schoolhouse

California lawmakers may soon decide the fate of San Diego County's last one-room schoolhouse. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.

State May Ax San Diego's Last-Standing One-Room Schoolhouse

California lawmakers may soon decide the fate of San Diego County's last one-room schoolhouse. KPBS reporter Ana Tintocalis has more.

About 11 students attend the historic one-room schoolhouse on top of Palomar Mountain. Administrators in the Valley Center Pauma school district have talked about closing it down because fewer students are attending their schools. A drop in enrollment means a loss of state money. But a bill in the state Senate would give the school about $50,000 a year of continuous funding.

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Principal Mary Grousch says if the school closes, families would have to travel more than an hour down dangerous mountain roads to attend another campus.

Grousch : Parents who live there want them to go to their neighborhood school and they also know there's something special about that one-room schoolhouse working from K-to eighth grade with your neighbors and friends.

Two teachers work at the schoolhouse. The building has been in use since the '50s. It costs nearly $100,000 to operate every year.

Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.