275.15 - HEARING -- DECISION -- PUBLICATION -- APPEAL.
275.15 HEARING -- DECISION -- PUBLICATION --
APPEAL.
1. At the hearing, which shall be held within ten days of the
final date set for filing objections, interested parties, both
petitioners and objectors, may present evidence and arguments, and
the area education agency board shall review the matter on its merits
and within ten days after the conclusion of any hearing, shall rule
on the objections and shall enter an order fixing the boundaries for
the proposed school corporation as will in its judgment be for the
best interests of all parties concerned, having due regard for the
welfare of adjoining districts, or dismiss the petition.
2. The area education agency board, when entering the order
fixing the boundaries, shall consider all available evidence
including, but not limited to, information presented by the
petitioners, all objections requesting territory exclusion,
reorganization studies and plans, geographical patterns evidenced by
students using open enrollment to attend school in another district
pursuant to section 282.18, potential travel distances required of
students, and geographic configuration of the proposed district. The
exclusion of territory shall represent a balance between the rights
of the objectors and the welfare of the reorganized district.
3. If the petition is not dismissed and the board determines that
additional information is required in order to fix boundary lines of
the proposed school corporation, the board may continue the hearing
for no more than thirty days. The date of the continued hearing
shall be announced at the original meeting. Additional objections in
the form required in section 275.14 may be considered if filed with
the administrator within five days, not including Saturdays, Sundays,
or holidays, after the date of the original board hearing. If the
hearing is continued, the area education agency administrator may
conduct one or more meetings with the boards of directors of the
affected districts. Notice of any such meeting must be given at
least forty-eight hours in advance by the area education agency
administrator in the manner provided in section 21.4. The area
education agency board may request that the administrator make
alternative recommendations regarding the boundary lines of the
proposed school corporation. The area education agency board shall
make a decision on the boundary lines within ten days following the
conclusion of the continued hearing.
4. The administrator shall at once publish the decision in the
same newspaper in which the original notice was published. Within
twenty days after the publication, the decision rendered by the area
education agency board may be appealed to the district court in the
county involved by any school district affected. For purposes of
appeal, only those school districts who filed reorganization
petitions are school districts affected. An appeal from a decision
of an area education agency board or joint area education agency
boards under section 275.4, 275.16, or this section is subject to
appeal procedures under this chapter and is not subject to appeal
under chapter 290. Section History: Early Form
[C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, § 4158--4160; C46, 50, § 276.5--276.7;
C54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 275.15] Section History: Recent Form
84 Acts, ch 1078, § 9; 85 Acts, ch 221, §2; 86 Acts, ch 1226, § 2;
86 Acts, ch 1239, § 1; 93 Acts, ch 160, § 6; 2006 Acts, ch 1185, §79;
2007 Acts, ch 214, §34
Referred to in § 275.11, 275.12, 275.14, 275.16, 275.18, 275.23,
275.23A, 275.24