House File 560 - Introduced




                                 HOUSE FILE       
                                 BY  COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION

                                 (SUCCESSOR TO HF 349)

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act giving weight to school district reorganization
  2    petitions filed with an area education agency and signed by
  3    eligible electors.
  4 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
    TLSB 2371HV (4) 87
    kh/nh

PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 275.5, Code 2017, is amended to read as
  1  2 follows:
  1  3    275.5  Proposals for merger or consolidation.
  1  4    1.  A proposal for merger, consolidation, or boundary change
  1  5 of local school districts shall first be submitted to the area
  1  6 education agency board following the procedure prescribed in
  1  7 this chapter.
  1  8    2.  Following receipt of a petition pursuant to section
  1  9 275.12, the area education agency board shall review its plans
  1 10 and determine whether the petition complies with the plans
  1 11 which had been adopted by the board.
  1 12    a.  If the petition does not comply with the plans which that
  1 13  had been adopted by the board, the board shall conduct further
  1 14 surveys pursuant to section 275.4 prior to the date set for
  1 15 the hearing upon the petition. If further surveys have been
  1 16 conducted by the board, the board shall present the results of
  1 17 the further surveys at the hearing upon the petition.
  1 18    b.  If the petition does not comply with the plans that
  1 19 had been adopted by the board, or by the board of an affected
  1 20 school district, the area education agency board shall give
  1 21 weight to the petition, but shall not be bound by it.
  1 22                           EXPLANATION
  1 23 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  1 24 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  1 25    This bill requires an area education agency (AEA) board that
  1 26 is reviewing a petition submitted under Code section 275.12,
  1 27 signed by eligible electors, for a school district merger,
  1 28 consolidation, or boundary change that does not comply with
  1 29 plans adopted by an AEA board or school board, to give weight
  1 30 to the petition.  However, the AEA board is not bound by the
  1 31 petition.
       LSB 2371HV (4) 87
       kh/nh