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.

[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]

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