They are considering consolidation of school districts, say U. S. school officials, burdened with reduced budgets.

Stateline. org reported on Monday that Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said he wants to reduce the number of schools in his state by one third.

Dan Turner, a spokesman for Barbour, said, "If you picture a state with 82 counties and 152 school districts, you start to see part of the problem. This is both an educational opportunity and an economic necessity."

According to stateline. org, Barbour's office says the change could save $65 million but acknowledges that's a "guesstimate."

Educators also say that reducing administrative costs and putting those savings directly into classrooms is the goal of consolidation. But some school officials oppose consolidation.

Marty Strange, a policy program director for a Maine school district, said, "It's never about district consolidation, even when they say it is; it's always about closing schools. School district consolidation is just a shoehorn. It's a lot more pleasant to talk about wasteful administrators than it is to talk about laying off someone's child's teacher." (With Inputs from Agencies)