When Rep. Trey Lamar, a Republican from Senatobia, introduced House Bill 1284 in January to merge six community college districts, college leaders and students quickly launched a petition to shut it down.

The bill died in committee, but the question behind it did not: Does Mississippi still need 23 public colleges and universities?

“I wanted to start a conversation,” said Lamar, who is also a member of the House Select Committee on Consolidation. “What worked for our colleges decades ago doesn’t always work today.”

House Bill 1284 would have merged Coahoma Community College with Mississippi Delta Community College; Meridian with East Mississippi; and Southwest Mississippi with Copiah-Lincoln. The mergers would not have closed any campuses but were meant to reduce administrative costs by consolidating college districts from 15 to 12. Any money saved from merging would have been put back into the community college system, Lamar said.

Lamar’s bill intensified discussions about college mergers, said Rep.…