Regarding its elementary schools in the coming months and years, the Lawrence school district should:

• Ensure that existing schools are “fully utilized” before building any new schools at any new sites.

• Consider consolidating smaller schools as the “greatest opportunity” for cost savings.

• Focus on factors “other than school size or class size” when striving to boost student success.

• Concentrate on upgrading basic systems and possibly renovating or adding onto schools to meet programming needs, whatever forms they might take.

Such are among the broad conclusions reached by four separate subcommittees of a community task force charged with balancing the district’s needs with available and projected resources.

Now it’s time to see how the four glimpses can come together to provide a unified vision.

“There are some very functional spaces in the district,” said Tom Waechter, chairman of a subcommittee examining the physical condition of the district’s 15 elementary schools. “There also are some deficiencies that offer reason for investment.”

Such findings surfaced Monday evening, 15 weeks after members of the district’s Lawrence Elementary School Facility Vision Task Force received their subcommittee assignments. The Lawrence school board appointed the task force earlier this year, after the district endured budget cuts and embarked on a reconfiguration plan for schools without closing any buildings.

The task force’s subcommittees were assigned to study and report back on their respective topics: defining what a “neighborhood school” is, and how it fits into the city’s process for urban planning; determining operational costs and financial efficiencies; researching how class sizes, school sizes and other factors should be considered in new and remodeled schools; and assessing the physical conditions of existing schools.

Their combined report is due to the Lawrence school board by February, and organizers are emphasizing that members should not lose sight of the goal: Finding ways to do the most good with the least amount of money.

“Everything has to fit toward efficiencies, or what we give to the Board of Education won’t be of any use for them,” said Mike Neal, who is serving as task force facilitator.

Neal is scheduled to meet this morning with Superintendent Rick Doll and other leaders to review the subcommittees’ reports, in search of both common sentiments and divergent views.

Among findings they’ll be examining:

• From the “neighborhood school” group: Work to see that every school is a “community” school, one that has strong relationships among teachers, students, parents, administrators and the surrounding neighborhoods. Consider “leveling out enrollment” differences, both by changing boundaries and offering “enhanced opportunities” — such as music and art — to attract students to low-enrollment schools.

• From the efficiency group: Personnel costs account for 95 percent of a school’s operational expenses. Consolidating schools saves money by reducing a school’s administrative costs. Consolidating two smaller schools into a single, larger school could be expected to save about $280,000 a year.

• From the research group: Schools with 300 to 500 students offer some efficiencies without being too large. Team teaching should be encouraged. A lack of parental involvement in school is a detriment to learning.

• From the physical conditions group: Prairie Park School is a good example of a relatively new school that meets programming needs. Schwegler School, built in the 1950s but renovated and expanded since then, provides an example of how older schools could be upgraded to meet today’s demands — including its gym being able to effectively accommodate community activities.

Task force members are scheduled to meet again at 7 p.m. Monday to start establishing their common ground, on the way to a final report.