Two of our Democratic politicians in Rhode Island are proposing a plan to reduce our number of school districts from 36 to 5.

State legislators from Pawtucket are planning to introduce a bill that would create five school districts, each coinciding with the five counties in the state.

Rep. Peter F. Kilmartin and Sen. James E. Doyle II said they formed the idea last fall, when the Pawtucket School Department announced it was facing a nearly $3-million budget deficit.

Although there are no details yet– the General Assembly has been asked to determine whether the idea is feasible — both legislators said shrinking the number of school districts to 5 from 36 would help avoid the financial crunch that has beset Pawtucket schools.

“What we’re trying to do is consolidate [school] administrations because we feel there is a lot of duplication,” Doyle said. “For lack of a better term, we’re trying to cut the fat out.”

This is an issue where there seems to be bipartisan support. As education budgets get squeezed by reduced federal funding, ways need to be found to save money. One may be through administrative consolidation.

Here’s a no-brainer of a prediction: there will be major resistance to this. Affluent school districts will not want to be lumped together with struggling urban districts. Parents will fear that they are losing value for their tax dollars that go to education. And naturally, administrators will resist being downsized.

Mike Maloof, school teacher and publisher of Rightri.com, has a column on this proposal. He also suggests putting on the table the regionalizing of teacher’s contracts.