CHURCHILL BORO, Allegheny County — The Woodland Hills School Board on Wednesday rejected a consolidation plan in a 5-4 vote that would have closed three elementary schools and reconfigured grades by the end of the school year.

Superintendent Alan Johnson said last week there was an overall community consensus that school changes needed to occur, but board members were divided on the issue.

Johnson said there are about 4,000 students in the district that has combined building capacity of more than 7,000 students.

In contrast, the Butler School Board voted 6-3 Monday to close five of the district’s 11 elementary schools and to reconfigure grades in buildings to kindergarten through fourth; fifth and sixth; seventh through ninth; and 10th through 12th grades.

District officials estimate the plan will save Butler about $3.5 million a year.

Johnson discussed Woodland Hills’ school consolidation plan in this past Sunday’s Butler Eagle in a comparison story about Butler’s efforts to close schools.