15-458

15-458. Formation of new district or districts
by subdivision of existing district; division of assets

A. In a school district containing a student count of more than six hundred, a new
school district or districts may be formed by a subdivision of the existing school
district.

B. On the request of the governing board or on receipt of petitions bearing the
signatures of at least ten per cent of the qualified electors in the area proposed to be
a new school district or the signatures of at least fifty of the qualified electors in
the area proposed to be a new school district, whichever is more, and at least ten per
cent of the qualified electors in the area proposed to continue as the existing school
district or at least fifty signatures of the qualified electors in the area proposed to
continue as the existing school district, whichever is more, the county school
superintendent shall within ten days call an election to determine if the existing school
district should be divided and a new school district or districts formed, except that if
the existing school district is a union high school district, the county school
superintendent shall call the election only on the request of the governing boards of the
union high school district and each of the common school districts comprising the union
high school district or on receipt of petitions bearing the signatures of at least ten
per cent of the qualified electors in each of the common school districts or at least
fifty signatures of the qualified electors in each of the common school districts,
whichever is more. This subsection does not require the submission of the signatures of
more than fifty per cent of the qualified electors of the existing school district to the
county school superintendent in order to call an election for the purposes of this
section. The petition shall state the proposed boundaries of the school district or
districts to be formed together with the student count, specific reasons why it is in the
best interest of the current district residents to have a new district or districts
formed and the amount of real property valuation within the school district or districts
to be formed. No new school district may be formed unless the state board of education
determines that the real property valuation per student count is sufficient to support
the school district in a manner comparable to other school districts of similar size and
that a sufficient number of pupils will exist in each of the new districts to ensure that
educational programs and services will be of similar or better quality after the
subdivision.

C. The election shall be held concurrently and as provided in section 15-459,
except that a majority of the votes cast by the qualified electors in each of the areas
proposed as a school district must approve the division of the existing school district
and the formation of the new school district.

D. The governing board of the existing school district shall prepare a projected
list of assets for the existing district prior to the end of the fiscal year in which the
election is held. The governing boards of the original and new school district or
districts shall prepare a final statement of assets for the formerly existing school
district as of the end of the fiscal year in which the election was held and shall have
the statement of cash and bonded indebtedness certified by the county treasurer by August
30 of the year in which the new school district or districts become operative. The
governing boards of the original school district and the new school district or districts
shall set aside sufficient assets or provide other means to satisfy the liabilities of
the former existing district except for bonded indebtedness and approve the final
division of all assets by September 15 of the year in which the new school district or
districts become operative. If one or more of the governing boards fail to provide for
satisfying the liabilities and fail to approve the division of assets by September 15,
the county attorney shall determine the means to satisfy the liabilities and final
division of assets by October 1 of the fiscal year in which the new school district or
districts become operative.

E. The division of the bonded indebtedness of the original school district shall be
in accordance with the provisions of section 15-457, subsection B.

F. An original or new school district formed by a subdivision of an existing school
district or districts after June 30, 1992 is not eligible to determine its budget using
the provisions of section 15-949 or the support level weights prescribed in section
15-943, paragraph 1. These districts are also not eligible to participate in a small
district service program as prescribed in section 15-365 or to apply to the state board
of education for a capital levy adjustment as prescribed in section 15-963.

G. If two or more common school districts are within the boundaries of a union high
school district, two or more unified school districts may be formed by a subdivision of
the existing union high school district and by unification with the common school
districts as provided in this section, subject to the following provisions:

1. Formation of a unified school district pursuant to this subsection shall be
initiated if a majority of the governing board members of each of the districts affected
unites in a petition to the county school superintendent for the establishment of a
unified school district or if ten per cent of the number of qualified electors who voted
in whichever of the last two general elections resulted in the higher number of ballots
cast and who reside in each of the areas proposed to be the new unified school districts
unite in a petition to the county school superintendent for the establishment of a
unified school district. The petition shall include a statement of the proposed
boundaries of the new unified school districts and shall request that the subdivision of
the union high school district and formation of the unified districts be submitted to the
qualified electors who reside within the proposed districts. The petition shall also
include a detailed description of desegregation funding and expenses for the resulting
school district as set forth in paragraph 7 of this subsection and may include the new
school district name and other information as desirable. On receipt of the petitions,
the county school superintendent shall examine the petitions within fifteen days of
receipt to determine their sufficiency including the adequacy of the signatures of
electors. If the petitions are found sufficient, the county school superintendent shall
call an election to be held to determine the question. The county school superintendent
shall prepare and the governing board shall distribute a subdivision and unification plan
that includes:

(a) The proposed boundary changes.

(b) The impact of the proposed boundary changes, including where pupils will attend
school, changes in pupil transportation services, changes in availability of special
education services, changes in pupil-teacher ratio and operational costs.

(c) If paragraph 7 of this subsection applies to one or more of the existing school
districts, a detailed description of desegregation funding and expenses for the resulting
school districts as set forth in paragraph 7 of this subsection.

(d) Any other information the county school superintendent deems appropriate to
include.

2. If the governing boards or the petitioners wish the new districts to receive
unification assistance as provided in section 15-912.01, they shall notify the department
of education and the joint legislative budget committee by August 1 of the fiscal year
before the new districts would begin operation and provide the department and the joint
legislative budget committee with information required to project the costs of
unification assistance to the new districts for the first year of operation. The
department shall include sufficient monies to cover these unification costs in its budget
request for state aid for the following fiscal year.

3. The election shall be held as provided in section 15-459, except that the ballot
shall contain the words "subdivision and unification, yes" and "subdivision and
unification, no", and there shall be one of the following two ballot questions, whichever
is applicable, stated as follows:

(a) Should (insert the name of the district) union high school
district be subdivided with boundaries identical to the boundaries of (insert
the name of the districts) common school districts and simultaneously creating
(insert the number of the districts) unified school districts with the
respective common school districts as specified in the subdivision and
unification plan?

(b) Should (insert the name of the district) union high school
district be subdivided simultaneously with the subdivision of (insert the name
of the districts) common school districts and simultaneously creating (insert
the number of the districts) unified school districts with the subdivided
common school districts as specified in the subdivision and unification plan?

4. If the formation of the new unified school districts is authorized, the terms of
the governing board members of the common and union high school districts do not expire
on the effective date of unification but continue until January 1 following the next
general election, during which time the members of the governing boards of the previously
existing school districts shall serve as the governing board of the new school district
in which they reside. At the next general election held after the formation and
thereafter, members shall be elected as prescribed in section 15-448, subsection E. The
governing boards of the new unified school districts shall prepare policies, curricula
and budgets for the new unified school districts. The policies prepared by the governing
boards shall include the provisions of section 15-459, subsection M.

5. If the common school district is not subdivided, the new unified school district
that includes the boundaries of the previously existing common school district shall
assume the bonded indebtedness of that previously existing common school district. If
the common school district is subdivided, the provisions of subsection E of this section
shall apply.

6. If the common school district is not subdivided, existing bond authorization of
the common school districts automatically continues for the original purpose
authorized. If the common school district is subdivided, the existing bond authorization
of the common school district will expire unless it is divided between the new unified
school districts as specified in the subdivision and unification plan.

7. If any of the school districts were authorized to budget for expenses of
complying with or continuing to implement activities that were required or permitted by
court order of desegregation or administrative agreement with the United States
department of education office for civil rights directed towards remediating alleged or
proven racial discrimination pursuant to section 15-910, this authorization does not
expire on the effective date of the subdivision and unification but only applies to
schools included in the court order or administrative agreement.

8. If the union high school district and the common school district or districts
with which it is unified all have authorization for an override as provided in section
15-481 that would have continued after the subdivision and unification, the override
authorization continues for the new district and expires at the time that the earliest
override would have expired.

9. If one or more of the previously existing school districts were participating in
a career ladder program pursuant to chapter 9, article 1.1 of this title before
subdivision and unification, notwithstanding any other law the state board shall expedite
the processing of and may approve an updated application for program reapproval for the
new school district that includes the existing school district that was participating in
the program.

10. The employee's years of employment in the previously existing school district
shall be included in determining the employee's years of employment in the new school
district after a subdivision and unification. An employee who was entitled to continuing
contract status in the previously existing school district is entitled to continuing
employment contract status in the new school district.

11. The base salary and benefits of each employee for the first year of operation of
the new school district after a subdivision and unification shall not be lower than the
employee's base salary and benefits for the prior year in the previously existing school
district.

12. Notwithstanding paragraphs 10 and 11 of this subsection and pursuant to section
15-544, nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict the ability of the
governing board to implement a reduction in force or to scale back salaries of certified
teachers, administrators or noncertificated employees for reasons of economy or to
improve the efficient conduct of schools within the district following a subdivision and
unification.