Wisconsin Heights, a cash-hungry school district on the western edge of Dane County, is among a growing number of area school systems considering consolidation to deal with financial pressures.

Kay Butcher, a Wisconsin Heights School Board member who backed two referendums rejected by voters this year and last year, said it's important to start discussions with other districts.

"I brought up the issue of consolidation because I feel if we can't pass a referendum, we have to find an alternative," said Butcher, who raised the issue at an April 14 board meeting.

"I wouldn't say that there's anybody out there that's gung-ho about the idea, but we have to talk about what are we going to do."

The board is scheduled to continue that discussion tonight as part of a wide-ranging look at options for the district, which faces a budget shortfall estimated at $500,000 to more than $700,000 in the 2008-09 school year and larger deficits in later years.

"In today's marketplace in Dane County, it's very difficult for a small high school to compete," Butcher said.

The district of about 900 students currently loses 37 students to other districts under the state's open enrollment program, and it's possible that the number could double next year, district data show.

Some parents drive their children to and from schools in the adjacent Middleton-Cross Plains, Mount Horeb and Sauk Prairie school districts, Superintendent Larry Black said. The district also borders the Barneveld and River Valley districts.

Under state law, districts may consolidate if their school boards agree.

But voters have the final say if a board wants a referendum to be held, or if at least 10 percent of the voters in one of the affected districts sign a petition requesting a referendum.

The district's short-term options, Black said, include pursuing yet another referendum, continuing to cut programs or drawing more money from the district's fund balance — a measure of what the district owns compared to what it owes.

Black said consolidation may be viewed by some residents as a long-term solution, but the process takes years.

"Our problems are year to year," Black said. "And immediate."

Other area districts recently discussing dissolving or consolidating include:

• Montello, where three referendums have failed since 2007.

• Rio, where voters on May 20 will be asked to reconsider a referendum that they rejected in February.

• Weston, where Superintendent Tom Andres has said the defeat of a recent referendum may signal that residents want the district to dissolve or consolidate.

When a district dissolves, it simply folds and its students are taken in by others. Under consolidation, two districts merge into one.

Twenty-seven percent of Wisconsin's school superintendents said their school boards have held discussions during the past few years about the possibility of dissolving or consolidating their districts, according to a statewide survey released last year.

The survey was conducted by the Wisconsin Association of School District Administrators, a group representing state superintendents; and the Wisconsin Education Association Council, a teachers union.

Among districts considering dissolving or consolidating, more than 90 percent said the talks were prompted by financial problems.

Discussions about consolidation and dissolution were concentrated among small districts with little or no growth in enrollment since 1993, according to the survey.

Wisconsin Heights has lost a fifth of its students in five years.

Six in 10 Wisconsin districts are experiencing enrollment declines.