The Ministry of Education says it is still open to suggestions from Canterbury schools that it plans to close or merge.
The ministry on Monday began one-on-one meetings with the 31 schools that will be affected in Christchurch and Banks Peninsula.
The meetings follow the announcement in September of the Government's $1 billion overhaul of the region's education system following recent earthquakes.
The reorganisation over the next 10 years comes in the face of a quake repair bill of up to $750 million and the loss of 4500 students.
Ministry chief executive Lesley Longstone says the meetings will cover geotechnical and demographic data it used to base its decisions on.
She says the schools were not given such detailed information at the time of the announcement because it was too complex.
Ms Longstone says the seven-week consultation period will give the schools the opportunity to contest the proposals and she is not "hell-bent" on any one outcome.
