As many as one in nine primary schools is running with half its places unfilled Ministers are taking steps to strengthen rules designed to protect Scottish schools from closure.
The move comes in advance of expected announcements indicating hundreds of schools are under threat because of the squeeze on public spending.
The education secretary plans fresh mandatory guidance to ensure all viable alternatives to closure are examined.
Local government body Cosla said it had seen no evidence any council had failed to comply with legislation.
The plans will be unveiled by Mike Russell at the SNP conference, which begins on Wednesday.
He will tell delegates that the SNP government has done more than any previous administration after the Schools (Consultation) Act was passed last year.
The legislation means councils must properly consult before shutting a school and closure can only go ahead if the alternative is educationally better than the existing arrangements.
Leaders of the Rural Schools Network believe guidance attached to the legislation is so vague that schools are not obviously more secure.
“Today’s announcement smacks to us of the Scottish government moving the goalposts”
Isabel Hutton Cosla education spokeswoman
But Mr Russell will tell the conference: “More still needs to be done, especially for rural schools. One of the chief concerns of many rural communities is that they feel their ideas for viable alternatives to closure are not given a fair hearing. We must address this frustration.
“Where an alternative to closure meets the educational needs of the children, the parents, the teachers and – in these financially difficult times – the council, we will ensure it is fully explored.”
Fresh mandatory guidance will be developed making it clear to councils that they must consider all viable alternatives to closure and accept any credible plan a community brings forward to save a rural school.
“If a council fails to do so, I will not hesitate to call those plans in and halt those closures until all practical alternatives have been fully examined,” Mr Russell will tell delegates.
Cosla education spokeswoman Isabel Hutton said: “Ministers cannot call in decisions if a local authority follows the correct procedures so today’s announcement smacks to us of the Scottish government moving the goalposts.”
The Rural Schools Network is reserving judgement until it can scrutinise the new guidance. In the meantime it has raised concerns for the future of schools under review in Argyll and Bute, Highland, Shetland, South Lanarkshire, Perthshire and the Western Isles.
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