Abstract
School closings in rural area continue to occur due to drops in population in those areas. Many studies have been done in order to effectively utilize such closed schools. However, there is a lack of studies targeting operators of the closed facilities for revitalization. Therefore, the goal of this research is understanding the real operational status of and finding solutions for the closed schools after studying the current operational status of the closed schools by conducting surveys with their operators. The survey was performed with closed-school-operators in Chungcheongnam-Do as the target; and the analysis was conducted regarding the acquisition type of the closed schools (purchase, lease), building condition, repair and construction status, annual visitors, operational days, operational fees, seasonal ups and downs, operational profits, and satisfaction of local government support. The results showed that there were differences with visitors and operational days along acquisition types as well as low operational profits and seasonal ups and downs including dissatisfaction of local government support. In this study, institutional and political improvement measurements were suggested for the effective operation of the closed facilities based on the main results.