School Closures/mergers

In my local area there are plans to merge a lot of the smaller schools and shut some of them altogether. Apparently this is a good idea as it will mean the children will have a much more equal amount of money allocated to them and enable the schools to have more resources. However the local people aren't at all happy about it. I think a village school does help the community but whether it gives a better education to the children is a totally different issue.