Topeka ? An effort to nudge school districts toward consolidation was pushed aside Friday, as legislators raised concerns about new layers of bureaucracy and limited financial savings.

After more than two hours of debate, the House Education Committee tabled a bill mandating that each of the state’s 105 counties have one school superintendent by July 1, 2006.

Originally, the bill applied to counties with populations of less than 10,000, but committee members amended it to include all counties. Tabling the bill put its fate in doubt.

Education Chairwoman Kathe Decker, R-Clay Center and author of the bill, said consolidation “is just a big thing to get our hands around.”

The committee’s action, on a voice vote, ended a week of discussion of several consolidation proposals. The proposals were designed to reduce the number of districts from 303 to as few as 40 in hopes of saving money and improving education. The bill could be revived early next week.

Decker said the intent was to lead districts toward consolidation but leave decisions to local school boards. She said she did not understand why some legislators insisted on millions in savings before supporting legislation.

“To me, something is something,” Decker said.

During Friday’s debate, rural legislators were concerned that their smaller districts were unfairly targeted. Rep. Ralph Ostmeyer said four western Kansas districts were already in the process of consolidating, while others share resources.

“We’ve already done our thing in western Kansas,” said Ostmeyer, R-Grinnell. “People, why are you picking on 90 school districts?”

The 90 he referenced are in counties with fewer than 10,000 residents, targeted in the bill’s original language. They range from the Nes Tre La Go district in Ness County with 37 students to Kingman, with 1,177 students.

Others, including Rep. Sue Storm, D-Overland Park, questioned whether having one superintendent per county would reduce spending. Counties may find, she said, that they need several assistants to run the districts, using up any savings.

Legislators have yet to act on a bill that would study the feasibility of creating regional education districts. That proposal, floated by a group of superintendents, is designed to centralize administration and reinvest any savings — as much as $480 million — in classrooms.

Rep. Bill Mason, R-El Dorado, said he would attempt to get legislators to approve an interim committee to discuss consolidation and have legislation ready for debate in the 2004 session.

Mason, who has pushed for consolidation since 1996, said the state needed to do more than look at the issue as some suggest.

“We have had enough studies,” he said.

Mark Tallman, lobbyist for the Kansas Association of School Boards, said Friday’s debate proved that it would be difficult to find a majority willing to do anything on consolidation.

He said districts would welcome incentives that encouraged consolidation decisions at the local level.

In April, residents in Bazine and Ransom in Ness County and Atwood and Herndon in Rawlins County will vote to consolidate effective July 1, 2004. Last year, West Graham-Morland consolidated with Hill City in Graham County.

“The fact of the matter is it’s going to happen naturally,” Tallman said.

The school consolidation bill is HB 2210.