Using data gathered from the West Virginia Education and Tax Departments, from school architects, from the State Building Trades Council, and from the United States Census Bureau, this study relates the per pupil cost of new school buildings in West Virginia to financial conditions, school district demography, and building characteristics. A total of 128 elementary, secondary, and vocational-technical school buildings constructed between 1974 and 1982 were investigated using multiple regression analysis. The 11 independent variables, drawn from facility planning and finance literature, included local fiscal effort, state and federal aid, school district enrollment, urban or rural location, space allocated to instruction, construction time, and building type. Surprisingly, only the district's assessed value and local effort, the amount of state funding, and the facility type significantly affected construction costs; the other variables, contrary to common assumptions, had little effect. The importance of fiscal variables implies that West Virginia schools are of unequal quality. Therefore, a state funding formula--using the variables found significant in this study--should be devised to fund needed school construction with equal local efforts. Meanwhile, researchers should further investigate the effects of space allocation and federal funding on construction costs. (MCG)