State officials made a poor decision Thursday in rejecting the Hammond School Board's school consolidation plan.

The School Property Tax Control Board's 6-3 recommendation against the $165 million plan sends the project to Cheryl Musgrave, commissioner of the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance. Musgrave has six months to make a final decision.

The state board questioned whether the taxpayers can afford this expensive project when the district already has such a heavy debt load.

But the school plan has many things in its favor.

We like the plan because it will consolidate two schools, Hammond High and Gavit High, and turns Gavit into a middle school. Hammond no longer needs four high schools.

What the school district does need is major changes both in the delivery of services and in the results attained. Hammond's graduation rate and test scores are dismal.

This construction plan allows the school district to make those radical changes.

Part of the plan is to allow Clark High School to establish a center for visual arts instruction. Morton High School would focus on performing arts, and the new high school would offer specialized instruction in math and science and medical careers.

That cannot happen at the existing Hammond High, where classrooms are as small as two-thirds of the state minimum. Desks cannot be rearranged in such a small space to allow a different style of learning to take place.

The new high school and the renovated Gavit Middle School would put the school district's facilities at a par with its suburban counterparts. That would remove one more obstacle to learning and make it harder to accept poor test scores and a low graduation rate.

Hammond is losing population rapidly -- 7 percent between 2000 and 2007, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. And one of the big reasons people leave a community is because of its schools.

Hammond needs this project. It was already approved back in 2001. It should not have to go through further roadblocks.

Hammond school officials should keep trying to get this consolidation project approved.