Barbara Kent Lawrence, Ed.D., is the author of the historical novel “Both Sides of the Pond, My Family’s War: 1933-1946,” her ninth book. She lives in Brunswick.

For several years I was the school facilities policy analyst for the Rural School and Community Trust. In the early 2000s, our team traveled throughout the United States looking at schools that had responded creatively to facilities challenges.

One of the first examples I found of a school’s offering housing to its teachers was on the Cranberry Isles, off Mount Desert Island, Maine, where the town had converted the school’s attic into an apartment for a teacher and his or her family. (The school is now named after noted artist and author Ashley Bryan.)

The residence brought income to the school, meant that someone was on the premises more often and, most important, helped attract teachers who could not otherwise afford to live on the island. It was a good idea that is worth trying elsewhere.

On Feb. 19 of this year, Hannah LaClaire reported that Rep. Traci Gere of Kennebunkport had proposed a bill to establish workforce housing in vacant school buildings. Then, on March 4, she wrote that the aging infrastructure of Maine’s municipal sewers limits more general development. Linking the two suggests possibilities to increase workforce housing in Maine and support schools as our student population diminishes.

Many schools are flat-roofed. With sufficient support, workforce housing affordable to teachers, nurses, firemen, policemen and other community members could be built on top of them, as has been done elsewhere. Not only can many school buildings support housing, the need for the capacity of their sewage systems also diminishes as the number of staff and students decreases. These unused resources should make it more affordable to build workforce housing over schools.

Many educators agree that small schools work most effectively for students, teachers and communities. My work with the Rural School and Community Trust, and my dissertation, “Working Memory, The Influence of Culture on Aspirations,” showed that consolidation rarely saves money and should be the last solution, not the first, for a declining student population.

Districts with small schools can reduce overhead by having specialty teachers and administrators travel between schools. Busing students is expensive and wastes the time of many more people than having specialty teachers and administrators serve multiple schools.

I think that one reason Maine students are now ranked 43rd in the nation on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), after our fourth graders ranked first on the NAEP for reading and math in 1994, is the consolidation of small schools, larger average class size, the increased time students spend in buses and the distancing of parents and community members from their schools. I hope to study these issues more fully in the coming year. Here are some other ways to support community schools and make them affordable.

Rent space in schools: Renting space year-round to appropriate businesses and inviting community organizations to hold paying events in the schools throughout the year will bring income to a school and make use of it during vacations. Many schools throughout the country have been doing this for years.

Use the 1031 section of the federal tax code as an incentive: The 1031 Section of the U.S. tax law provides a way to fund workforce housing and schools. When owners sell a commercial property, they can delay paying capital gains taxes by investing the profits into other income-producing entities. Such properties could include workforce housing in (or on) existing schools. Maine’s wealthier residents and visitors might find such an opportunity enticing as it could offer a secure return and a way to defer capital gains, while benefiting their communities.

Give renters a tax deduction for the amount they spend yearly on rent: The tax deduction for interest on a mortgage was originally intended to induce people to buy houses. Now, that option is not possible for those who, against their will and dreams, must rent many of whom are young people. Why should they be penalized twice and not receive a housing deduction, as wealthier people do? If they did, they might be able to save more for a down payment. Even if this is not acceptable nationally, states, cities and townships that offer such a deduction on local taxes might attract younger people who aren’t able to buy property but will help build — or rebuild — the community.

Keep schools within their communities: Instead of consolidating schools, let’s keep them near students and their families and make them and housing more affordable. Let’s make them centers of community, as they were in the 19th and 20th centuries.