Merging Districts from 500+ down to 100

Like every other state, PA is struggling with the state budget. It's ugly, at best. One of the things being proposed by Governor Rendell is to consolidate our 501 districts down to 100. Read the article.

My questions is: What do you think of that idea? Pros and cons. I like to suggest that, when faced with making a decision which has such emotion tied to it, that we ask ourselves, "In this case, with our desired outcome being ____, what would a really smart person do?" That removes the emotion.

So, ask yourself ,"What would a really smart person do if the goal was to make our state's educational system be more efficient, more equitable, and more cost effective for the years to come?"

I'd LOVE to hear your answers.