House File 2656 - Introduced
HOUSE FILE
BY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
(SUCCESSOR TO HF 2048)
Passed House, Date Passed Senate, Date
Vote: Ayes Nays Vote: Ayes Nays
Approved
A BILL FOR
1 An Act relating to school reorganization and dissolution by
2 allowing certain landowners in a reorganizing or dissolving
3 school district to petition to join a contiguous school
4 district.
5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
6 TLSB 5038HV 81
7 kh/gg/14
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. Section 275.12, subsection 4, Code 2005, is
1 2 amended to read as follows:
1 3 4. The area education agency board in reviewing the
1 4 petition as provided in sections 275.15 and 275.16 shall
1 5 review the proposed method of election of school directors and
1 6 may change or amend the plan in any manner, including to
1 7 specify a different method of electing school directors as may
1 8 be required by law, justice, equity, and the interest of the
1 9 people. The area education agency board shall also consider
1 10 in reviewing the petition as provided in sections 275.15 and
1 11 275.16 the following criteria in the following priority order:
1 12 geography; transportation; educational opportunity; whether
1 13 the land owned by a person who files an objection requesting
1 14 territory exclusion pursuant to section 275.14 is contiguous
1 15 to another school district; and whether persons whose lands
1 16 are successively contiguous in a direct line to land owned by
1 17 a person whose land is contiguous to another school district
1 18 file, along with the person whose land is contiguous to
1 19 another school district, an objection requesting territory
1 20 exclusion pursuant to section 275.14. In the action, the area
1 21 education agency board shall follow the same procedure as is
1 22 required by sections 275.15 and 275.16 for other action on the
1 23 petition by the area education agency board.
1 24 Sec. 2. Section 275.15, unnumbered paragraphs 2 and 4,
1 25 Code 2005, are amended to read as follows:
1 26 The area education agency board, when entering the order
1 27 fixing the boundaries, shall consider all available evidence
1 28 including, but not limited to, information presented by the
1 29 petitioners, all objections requesting territory exclusion,
1 30 reorganization studies and plans, geographical patterns
1 31 evidenced by students using open enrollment to attend school
1 32 in another district pursuant to section 282.18, potential
1 33 travel distances required of students, and geographic
1 34 configuration of the proposed district. The exclusion of
1 35 territory shall represent a balance between the rights of the
2 1 objectors and the welfare of the reorganized district.
2 2 The administrator shall at once publish the decision in the
2 3 same newspaper in which the original notice was published.
2 4 Within twenty days after the publication, the decision
2 5 rendered by the area education agency board may be appealed to
2 6 the district court in the county involved by any school
2 7 district affected. For purposes of appeal, only those school
2 8 districts who filed reorganization petitions are school
2 9 districts affected. An appeal from a decision of an area
2 10 education agency board or joint area education agency boards
2 11 under section 275.4, 275.16, or this section is subject to
2 12 appeal procedures under this chapter and is not subject to
2 13 appeal under chapter 290.
2 14 Sec. 3. Section 275.54, unnumbered paragraph 1, Code 2005,
2 15 is amended to read as follows:
2 16 Within ten days following the filing of the dissolution
2 17 proposal with the board, the board shall fix a date for a
2 18 hearing on the proposal which shall not be more than sixty
2 19 days after the dissolution petition was filed with the board.
2 20 The board shall publish notice of the date, time, and location
2 21 of the hearing at least ten days prior to the date of the
2 22 hearing by one publication in a newspaper in general
2 23 circulation in the district. The notice shall include the
2 24 content of the dissolution proposal. A person residing or
2 25 owning land in the school district may present evidence and
2 26 arguments at the hearing or may file an objection requesting
2 27 territory exclusion using the procedures set forth in sections
2 28 275.12, 275.14, and 275.15. The president of the board shall
2 29 preside at the hearing. The board shall review testimony from
2 30 the hearing and shall adopt or amend and adopt the dissolution
2 31 proposal. The board shall notify by registered mail the
2 32 boards of directors of all school districts to which area of
2 33 the affected school district will be attached and the director
2 34 of the department of education of the contents of the
2 35 dissolution proposal adopted by the board. If the board of a
3 1 district to which area of the affected school district will be
3 2 attached objects to the attachment, that portion of the
3 3 dissolution proposal will not be included in the proposal
3 4 voted upon under section 275.55 and the director of the
3 5 department of education shall attach the area to a contiguous
3 6 school district. If the board of a district to which area of
3 7 the affected school district will be attached objects to the
3 8 division of assets and liabilities contained in the
3 9 dissolution proposal, section 275.30 applies for the division
3 10 of assets and liabilities to that district.
3 11 EXPLANATION
3 12 This bill expands the criteria the board of directors of an
3 13 area education agency must consider when reviewing petitions
3 14 objecting to redrawn school district boundaries and makes an
3 15 appeal from a decision of an area education agency board or
3 16 joint area education agency boards subject to appeal to the
3 17 state board of education.
3 18 The new criteria are added in the following priority order:
3 19 geography, transportation, educational opportunity; whether
3 20 the land owned by the petitioner is contiguous to another
3 21 school district; and whether the persons whose lands are
3 22 successively contiguous in a direct line to land owned by a
3 23 person whose land is contiguous to another school district
3 24 file, along with the person whose land is contiguous to
3 25 another school district, an objection requesting territory
3 26 exclusion.
3 27 The bill strikes language which states that the exclusion
3 28 of territory shall represent a balance between the rights of
3 29 the objectors and the welfare of the reorganized district.
3 30 LSB 5038HV 81
3 31 kh:rj/gg/14