Three Herkimer County school districts have committed to studying the possibility of consolidating. Our Sarah Blazonis tells us what's next for the districts.

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HERKIMER COUNTY, N.Y. -- The Ilion Central School District has been preparing for a financial crisis for years. Continuous cuts in state aid led to the school board dipping into the fund reserve only occasionally to save what programs it could.

"It's our hope that we'll be able to do this one more year: Use our reserves to save as much programming as we possibly can. The only problem is this is most likely the last year we'll be able to do that," said Cosimo Tangorra, superintendent for the Ilion Central School District.

That's why Ilion, along with Herkimer and Mohawk officials say they've committed to studying a three district merger that could help enhance programming and activity offerings. Residents already voted in favor of a four district plan that would've included the Frankfort-Schuyler district, but community members there voted the plan down.

If approved, the three districts could begin operating as one in the 2013-2014 school year, meaning putting together budgets for the coming year could be another challenging process.

And Ilion isn't alone with its budget worries. Herkimer, Mohawk, and Frankfort-Schuyler each expect an $800,000 gap in this year's budget.

Though its residents voted against the merger, Frankfort-Schuyler says it's not ruling out working together.

"I think one of the big things we have to take a look at is the sharing of programs and services among school districts, even with those who may be proceeding next year with the additional merger study," said Frankfort-Schuyler Superintendent Bob Reina.

The other districts say they've already begun discussions on possibly sharing personnel to help save jobs.