Placer Union High School District's effort to study consolidation is not the first time this subject has been explored. In 2004, I was part of a grass-roots effort to place an advisory measure on the November 2004 ballot that would have polled the communities on whether or not the benefits and risks of K-12 unified school districts should be studied.

We learned valuable information in the process of our efforts.

At the time, there were 10 elementary districts (now eight) in four communities that matriculate into a regional high school district, Placer Union High School District.

In gathering information, we learned there is no agency that has the authority to mandate districts to come together for planning and problem-solving. There is no master plan for education in Placer County. There had not been a general review of the school district organization since the 1970s. There were efforts in the 1980s in two areas (Loomis and Foresthill) to break away from the regional high school district and unify with their feeder elementary districts.

Twice, the Placer County grand jury recommended reorganization. The 2002 California Master Plan for Education recommended unified school districts serving pre-kindergarten through 12th grade. Ninety-two percent of the students in the nation are served by unified school districts, 72 percent in California and 34 percent in Placer County.

We inquired through meeting with the Placer County Superintendent of Education, the county Board of Education and the county Committee on School District Organization as to why our regional area had not reorganized into K-12 unified districts. At that time, we were told there was no interest from the community to study reorganization. Also, we were cautioned that reorganization was a "political hot potato" and could polarize communities.

Yet, in meeting with community leaders and small groups of people in our community, the general response had been that community-based unified school districts make sense.

We followed the lead of another reorganization, a grass-roots effort in a different county, and proposed the use of an advisory measure to confirm interest in studying unified school districts. We attended board meetings of every school district that could be affected and asked the board members to participate in creating a base of shared knowledge by attending the School Services of California Inc. workshop on the fiscal implications of school district reorganization.

We created a Web site, held public meetings and developed a strategic plan. We gathered information on reorganization models, state criteria for reorganization, geographical boundaries, enrollments, data for calculating widely publicized API scores and rankings and the history of the California education system and past state incentives for school district consolidation.

We also introduced a community-based K-12 unified school district organization configuration.

Our proposal was to reorganize the regional Placer Union High School District and the feeder districts into four community-based unified districts. Each of the exiting high schools and their feeder elementary districts would become a new unified district.

This configuration would maintain the unique identify of the communities affected. It was modeled after a successful reorganization effort in Stanislaus County where a regional high school district and multiple feeder districts reorganized into three community-based unified school districts, creating the Oakdale, Waterford and Riverbank unified districts.

We learned board members were concerned that studying reorganization would create an additional financial burden to their already-strapped districts. Their time was also already stretched dealing with their present responsibilities.

A common fear was communities would lose their identity and that they would be drawn into a district with a middle school program as opposed to their K-8 program.

The most common questions asked about reorganization were: What will it cost? Will there be more money?

We learned the cost of change is directly linked to the level of cooperation. The financial benefit is linked to better use of resources and economies of scale.

The committee asked the local Board of Supervisors to support a study of our county's educational system, the study that was to be conducted by the county Office of Education to see what the best educational options are and if, indeed, community-based K-12 unified districts would better serve our students.

The steps leading to reorganization is a well laid-out process and not an impossible one. Our schools and communities are continually faced with new expectations and escalating costs due to a variety of state and national crisis situations.

It is important to renew the interest and efforts to unify our local schools and strengthen our communities to ensure each community has a viable education system that can better deal with continuous change.

For more information on the 2004 effort, go to the executive summary posted at www.communityunification.com.

Margie Spalding has been a lifelong resident of Placer County. A mother of four, she has served on a variety of committees and boards, including the 21st Century Committee for Auburn Union School, Boys & Girls Club in Auburn and Friends of Placer High School.