Services provided to residents of south metro-area communities come from a variety of sources.

Who renders these services depends on where you live — and there isn’t much of a noticeable pattern.

Highlands Ranch residents get fire protection from Littleton, law enforcement from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and public education from the Douglas County School District. The community has its own parks and recreation provider.

Lone Tree has its own police department, but relies on South Metro for fire protection and South Suburban for parks and rec. Lone Tree — which is a municipality, unlike its much larger, unincorporated neighbor, Highlands Ranch — also is part of the Douglas County School District.

Centennial, the largest city in the south metro area, contracts out for virtually everything.

Englewood, on the other hand, does it all. Littleton comes close.

What got me thinking about this was the recent decision by the City of Sheridan to contract with Denver for fire protection services, a move that should save some, if not a lot, of money.

About time, I thought. Why does a metro-area city of approximately 5,000 people need its own fire department? Or police department? Or school district?

Why, when Centennial, with about 102,000 residents, has none of those things and seems to be doing just fine? Centennial residents are served by the Arapahoe County Sheriff’s Office, South Metro Fire Rescue, South Suburban Parks and Recreation, and the Cherry Creek and Littleton school districts. Public works comes from a private contractor.

Maybe the time has come for more of this unconventional thinking. Can we get by, and maybe even thrive, with fewer agencies, districts and entities?

Let’s look at school districts.

In one small swath of western Arapahoe County, there are two school districts, Englewood and Sheridan. Combined, the two districts cover just 10 square miles and enroll only about 5,000 students. Neither district is known for its academic prowess.

Massive Arapahoe County is covered by seven school districts. Three of them, including Littleton and Cherry Creek, are fairly large. Another two, Deer Trail and Byers, are tiny, rural districts, far removed from the population center.

The Englewood and Sheridan districts are smack in the middle of the metro area, surrounded by larger and higher-achieving districts.

In general, there can be much debate on whether larger districts absorbing smaller districts saves money and improves education. Locally, there can be debate on whether other districts in the area would want the added enrollment or possible headaches.

I say let the debate begin.

In all, Colorado has 178 school districts. That averages out to almost three districts for every county in the state.

Colorado has enough land area to justify many of the smaller districts, the ones located in sparsely inhabited outposts. Those same towns probably need their own fire departments, too.

But why small school districts are needed in urban and suburban areas is not as clear. It can’t hurt to evaluate the viability of districts like Sheridan or Englewood joining another, larger district. Or simply merging together.

If it can be done in a way that keeps schools open and teachers with jobs, while cutting some administrative and operating costs, it should be looked at.

Douglas County — a mix of suburban and rural areas — has just one school district. It’s one of the biggest and best in the state. Like all school districts in Colorado, it faces money problems, but on a larger scale than most. I can’t imagine those financial woes would be eased if the district were divided into five smaller entities, each with its own administrative costs.

If there is one trend in how south metro-area communities get things done, it might be this: the way that works best for them. Often, that means sharing an agency or district with a neighboring community.

Centennial is covered by the sheriff’s department, and the city has a very low crime rate. Littleton’s parks and rec services come from South Suburban, and people seem pretty pleased.

Sometimes the math you learn in school is wrong. Sometimes less is more.

Chris Rotar is a news editor for Colorado Community Newspapers.