COLUMBUS, Ohio -Ohio isn’t the only state discussing school district consolidation, as some other states question whether they’d save money through mergers.

The Wisconsin Assembly, the lower chamber in the state’s legislature, passed last month a series of bills providing additional money to districts that consolidate between 2026 and 2028. The bill now heads to the state’s Senate.

In Wisconsin, merged districts would receive a one-time payment of $2,000 per student in the first year of consolidation. Milwaukee Public Schools are excluded from the legislation.

Other bills passed as part of the Wisconsin legislative package would authorize a feasibility study on school district consolidation and provide state funds to low-income districts that don’t have the tax base to afford a merger state funds to consolidate.

Wisconsin demographers expect the state’s population, currently 5.9 million, to decline by 200,000 over the next 25 years. There are 53,000 fewer students enrolled in public schools since the 2013-2014 school year. Seventy percent of the state’s districts have experienced a decline, according to Wisconsin Public Radio.

Democrats, however, say these bills do nothing to actually improve the quality of public schools.

In Pennsylvania, a Democratic lawmaker introduced a bill Dec. 3 that would require a study of reorganizing and consolidating the state’s 500 school districts to about 100.

However, the idea is not new. In 2009, a former Pennsylvania governor also wanted to reduce the number of districts to 100. But the idea never went anywhere, due to concerns about layoffs, building closures and building overcrowding, the Erie Times-News reports.

This comes as some Ohioans are also discussing school district consolidation as a potential way to help reduce costs for taxpayers. Sixty-percent of each property tax bill on average goes to the local school district in Ohio.

A new study urges states to consider merging school districts in ways that can reduce economic and racial segregation.

“It can very much be about ensuring more equal opportunities for broader groups of students, and that shouldn’t be lost in the conversation,” said Zahava Stadler, the project director for New America’s Education Funding Equity initiative, which used computer modeling for the study.

READ MORE: Study proposes merging Ohio school districts to reduce racial, economic segregation

While some think Ohio school district consolidation will help taxpayers, public school officials counter that major savings would require closing buildings and moving students, which they say communities generally oppose.

The left-of-center New America modeled in Ohio and each state three scenarios of district consolidation: Aligning districts with county lines, merging neighboring districts and creating entirely new boundaries without regard to current district lines.

In Ohio, the 607 districts would drop to 88 under the county model, 163 under the merger model and 156 under the blank-slate approach.

Stadler said redrawing lines can also address racial and economic disparities.

“It can very much be about ensuring more equal opportunities for broader groups of students, and that shouldn’t be lost in the conversation,” she said.

The study found that aligning districts with county boundaries would increase tax-base equality by 56.2%, cut racial segregation by 52.8% and reduce poverty disparities by 74.1%. Models involving mergers or a blank slate also showed increases in tax-base equality and integration. Researchers used machine learning to draw boundaries for those scenarios.

Stadler said declining enrollment nationwide may prompt more discussion about consolidation. “It’s a huge opportunity that we should not miss to also think about how we ensure that the students continue to get the best opportunities, or get even better ones, than they are currently afforded,” she said.