Merge Ahead  By Bruce Buchanan  Earl Row can't understand why
the Arkansas school district he's devoted nearly three decades
to will no longer exist in a few weeks.  It's not because of
poor academics. The tiny Kingston School District, with 215
students, had the highest eighth-grade math scores in the entire
state last year. But Kingston, like 56 other small, rural
districts in Arkansas, will disappear in 2004-05, forced by the
state to consolidate with neighboring districts.  In Arkansas,
school consolidation is taking place at the district level.
Other states, such as West Virginia and Kentucky, are closing
small, rural schools and sending their former students to larger
schools farther away from home. Supporters say consolidation is
needed to make the best use of taxpayer dollars and provide the
rich, varied curriculum expected from a modern school.
Regardless of the circumstances, most mergers take place despite
strong opposition from rural residents, who say that small,
tightly knit community schools a