CHARLOTTE, NC - It's a school district that spreads over 500 square miles, with 140,000 students.

For some school reform advocates, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools is too big. Now one group, SPARK Educational Performances, has launched a petition drive to get parents, teachers, CMS administrators and lawmakers to start thinking smaller.

"My belief is that the furthest you get from the end product, the worst your results are going to be," said Alan Bates, as he picked up his First and Fourth graders from Beverly Woods Elementary.

It was also parent-teacher night at the South Charlotte school. And just like educators are held accountable by those closest to them, there's a proposal to split up CMS for the same reason.

"I completely agree," said Bates, "and I wish it would have been done years ago."

"It seems like it's just so big that no one man or woman can solve these problems," said Tom Davis, who leads the SPARK petition effort.

From school funding to student scores and class sizes, Davis believes problems within the district have become too big. That's why he's talking to people about splitting the current school district into three regional districts.

"It brings a closer unit together and you become more effective and efficient being in a smaller independent school district," said Davis.

SPARK proposes that a school like Beverly Woods Elementary would be part of a smaller school district called the South, along with two others representing the North and Central part of Mecklenburg County.

Currently CMS is made up of six districts, each represented by an elected school board member.

By splitting the district into three parts, SPARK proposes each new district would have its own superintendent and school board, with taxing authority.

"I think when you have three districts in one county, that they sometimes devalue one another, whether they mean to or not," said Bill Anderson, executive director of MeckED, a non-profit organization seen as an independent advocate for excellent public education.

State legislators would need to approve splitting up CMS. Anderson points out lawmakers have been trying the past few years to consolidate school districts within county lines.

A split school district could also have an impact on how future businesses see the area.

"Do you think Chiquita (Brands International) would have valued Mecklenburg County coming to Charlotte as much if we were perceived as a split school district?" asked Anderson.

While Davis says schools in North Mecklenburg County could benefit from more local funding, CMS District 1 Board Member Rhonda Lennon says SPARK has not provided details about the impact on local tax rates, "especially in the bedroom communities of Huntersville, Cornelius and Davidson that lack the large business and industrial tax base of Charlotte.

When asked details about the tax burden to homeowners in each of the proposed districts, Davis said that would be left up to state lawmakers if and when they take up this issue.