Bigger school districts, lower taxes?

"For several decades, we've had a public policy that did a really good job of concentrating poverty and fostering divisiveness in communities," she said.

"To talk about consolidation without addressing that reality is missing a giant elephant in the room."

Piccola agreed that those wealth disparities were the biggest obstacle to consolidation. "You are not going to get any widespread mergers until you eliminate the property tax," he said.

Bill Hellmann, school board president in the Morrisville district, which has fewer than 1,000 students and struggles with high taxes and deteriorating facilities, said he didn't foresee widespread mergers "happening voluntarily."

However, he said, he believed mergers were inevitable because many districts no longer could afford pensions and teachers' salaries. "That will drive mergers," he said. "I don't know if it is going to happen now, but it has to happen."

John Armato, spokesman for the Pottstown School District, isn't so sure. "There are 501 school districts in Pennsylvania for a reason," he said. "Everyone wants to protect their piece of the world. There are real turf issues."