She looks around the new, 258,000-square-foot building that houses Monroe's 1,678 students and beams. It is the pride of the community.

Rubin, a former school board member here, has spent most of the last decade fighting for this up-to-date building for her city's children. First came a five-year battle with the Ohio Board of Education to separate from the Middletown Schools to create the district. Then, a bond issue campaign to get the funds to build. And, finally, the struggle to stay within budget.

"It's even more beautiful than I thought it would be," said Rubin, who has a daughter in fourth grade and a son in seventh. "This was a long time in coming. This is the crown jewel."

The building also represents a novel approach to education in Southwest Ohio - it is the first building constructed to house grades K-12.

But it won't be the last. In Cincinnati, the East End School is to be finished in about 13 months. It will be a K-12 school.

The financial challenges that districts face - especially the small ones, like Monroe - are fueling the drive for single-campus schools.

"We couldn't have built three schools here with the money available," architect Michael Dingeldein said of the Monroe project.

Monroe's single hilltop building at Ohio 63 and Yankee Road boasts two regulation-size high school gymnasiums and one college-size floor, separate entrances for elementary and secondary students, a 550-seat auditorium that can be used by students in all grades, a greenhouse, and four academic wings.

There is one central kitchen, one head custodian, one mechanical room, all of which help save on operating costs. Common areas - auditorium, main competition gymnasium, media center - are in the building's center, with the elementary classrooms on one side, junior and senior to the other.

It means elementary students have access to an auditorium, something unheard of in most districts where, at best, cafeterias do double duty as "cafetoriums." And teachers can walk down a hall to talk to colleagues in all grades. Older students can mentor or tutor younger ones.

"It builds camaraderie between all the teachers," said choir director Amber Tendam. "We can coordinate much better."

No other school under construction in Southwest Ohio or Northern Kentucky is being built to house an entire district.

While rare in Greater Cincinnati, it is not unheard of to house all students in a single building, said Rick Savors, spokesman for the Ohio School Facilities Commission. "It's mostly the smaller enrollment (under 1,000) districts you see it," Savors said. "There's more efficiencies with a single building."

A handful of districts - including the New Miami, Felicity-Franklin and Lockland schools - have their students together in a single renovated school or connecting school.