My school experience was the same as yours! I don't think I was ever in a class of less than 30 (one teacher who taught everything - music, art, phys ed.), nor was any building less than 100 years old! And yet -- surprise -- I got an excellent education! My current school district thinks every child should be attending classes in brand new, Taj Mahal buildings. You should see the schools they have built for millions when the old ones are still in good repair and could still be used. Ironically, the one building that they said could absolutely not be used for our students anymore was rented out to a neighboring school district when their new building was being built. Good enough for other children to use, but not for ours.
Our school district closed my kids' elementary school that had recently been renovated so that they could save $300,000/year. However, then they moved the kids from two old schools into a middle school campus(that had recently been renovated). To get the middle school campus turned into an elementary school, they spent 12 million.
Of course, the funds are different. One is for salaries, and one is bond money. So the district has tons of bond money to spend on building, but it doesn't have the funds to pay teachers.
What a joke!