Some Nebraska lawmakers think they've found a way to encourage rural school districts to share some services while maintaining their separate identities.

So-called school unification is sometimes the first step toward complete consolidation of districts.

On Thursday, lawmakers gave first-round approval to a bill (LB711) from Sen. Cap Dierks of Ewing that would allow districts to unify without court involvement.

Districts have been required to get court-approved plans for divvying up liabilities and assets in case districts wanted to back out of unification agreements.

Unified districts often keep their own buildings, sports teams and other things, but share some teachers and administrators and have a common property-tax levy.