A comprehensive analysis is presented of the cost of a schoolhouse and the processes of planning and financing it. In focusing on the elements of school building costs, cosideration is given to approaches to school construction and financing in other countries and to the historical evolution of schoolhouse design in the U.S. An analysis is presented of planning, building, and financial factors involved in modern-day school construction, and predictions are made on changes in education and society and their influence on future schoolhouse construction. (FS)