Despite providing estimates of potential substantial savings, a legislative study is right in acknowledging the unlikelihood of any significant move toward merging commonwealth school districts.

There are too many forces working against such a movement.

The study, prepared by Standard & Poors rating service, identified 34 potential consolidations that could save a combined $81 million a year in operating costs while providing better academic and extracurricular choices for students.

But as good as that might sound, districts scoring high on federal No Child Left Behind Act testing understandably would resist combining with a lower-scoring district. Other resistance would stem from opposition due to cultural and economic differences, prospects for higher taxes in one of the merging districts, longer bus trips and the prospects of neighborhood school closings.

Sports rivalries also could be an ingredient for merger opposition, the study acknowledges.

The big merger movement in Pennsylvania in the 1950s and '60s was in response to a much more cumbersome situation than exists today. Back then there were more than 2,000 public-school districts. Today there are 501 public-school districts and, for the most part, the educational system operates reasonably well.

Judging from the potential problems that would be inherent in any significant merger movement, the best advice is to leave the status quo intact. In response to the new report, the Pennsylvania School Boards Association said its position was that consolidation decisions were best left to local officials.

Despite inefficiencies that were identified a half-century ago, some small districts that were targeted for merger back then managed to maintain their individual identity and today are doing quite well in terms of educational quality and facilities.

At the same time, some state residents are deeply concerned about the fast growth that their districts are experiencing, even without the challenges that mergers impose. Some residents of the Seneca Valley School District are among them.

The new legislative study is a good tool for evaluating the possibilties that could exist, monetarily and otherwise, but it is the people and their elected school directors who know best the conditions and issues that encompass their school systems.

There are no laws or government directives forcing municipal consolidations and there should be no such mandates regarding school districts.