> Firstly, the capital cost of the older schools may well have been paid off. In the long term nothing is "paid off"; you have to keep up a regular schedule of

> Firstly, the capital cost of the older schools may well have been paid off. In the long term nothing is "paid off"; you have to keep up a regular schedule of renovations and renewal projects, or things fall apart. Which is what's currently happening to a bunch of US infrastructure. :-( As for cost differences, property tax revenue scales with rising land values, so land costs should be a wash (ignoring prop 13 insanity, which from other replies seems like it might be the real issue here). And expensive housing / high cost of living for new teachers is caused by high demand for housing without a corresponding increase in supply. So existing schools would already face that problem, but increasing supply by developing new housing should help to mitigate it.