Legislators opened a week of debate on school consolidation by taking a new look Monday at findings offered by consultants three years ago, when the issue seemed dead.

The findings of the Denver firm Augenblick and Myers in 2000 were similar to what many legislators now believe — that Kansas would be better off with fewer school districts than the current 303.

The House Education Committee had a briefing on the study, and Chairwoman Kathe Decker, R-Clay Center, said she was not concerned that members of the Senate were reluctant to address consolidation because the House was moving forward.

“Somebody has to have a sense of urgency to get it going,” Decker said.

In interviews Monday, some superintendents said the state’s financial problems made consolidation a serious topic for discussion.

“It is always contentious but deserves some consideration and further study,” Goddard Supt. Charlie Edmonds said.

Decker said legislators’ goal must be to improve education in areas now served by small school districts.

“If you just look at it from the dollar sense, you don’t do justice to the issue,” she said.

Decker’s committee is scheduled to begin hearings today on five consolidation bills.

One bill would cut the number of districts to 105, or one for each county, on July 1, 2005.

Two of the measures would require all counties with 10,000 or fewer residents to have only a single school district by July 1, 2005, reducing the number to 241.

A fourth measure orders the Board of Education to examine districts with 400 or fewer students and less than 200 square miles in area, with the presumption they’ll be dissolved, barring special circumstances.

The fifth measure would require the State Board of Education to study creating 40 regional education districts.

Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said many smaller districts wanted the state to provide greater financial incentives for voluntary consolidation rather than force them to close buildings and fire teachers and administrators.

“Clearly, the pace is quickening,” Tallman said, adding that many education officials perceive saving money, not improving education, as legislators’ motivation.