A Democratic state senator says she's preparing a bill for the 2009 Legislature that could help small schools ease into consolidation.

Julie Bartling of Burke says her legislation would establish "whole grade sharing," which she says would let neighboring
districts share certain grades instead of consolidating the entire school system.

Bartling says whole grade sharing is used in Iowa. She says it saves money for all the districts involved and allows children to
go to class with a bigger group of students.

She also says the new process would not replace consolidation but would be a first step that a district could take to ease into
the process.

Bartling says the state's Education secretary is helping her write the bill.