(a) The school district fails to maintain and operate a school for one year without approval of the State Board of Education;

(b) The school district is in a county with 35,000 or less population and has an average daily membership of fewer than six children for each of two successive years, as certified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction; or

(c) The school district is in a county with more than 35,000 population and has an average daily membership of fewer than 18 children for each of two successive years, as certified by the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

(2) The order of the district boundary board shall take effect as provided in ORS 330.103.

(3) Subject to the provisions of ORS 330.092 to 330.101, the district boundary board on the request of the district school boards of the affected districts or on petition of five percent or 500 electors of each affected district, whichever is less, shall merge smaller districts into larger districts or change the boundaries of common or union high school districts.

(4) No boundary change or merger shall be made which results in a school district having fewer than 20 children of school age on the date the change or merger becomes effective.

(5) No boundary change or merger shall be made which results in a school district that consists of noncontiguous areas.

(6) If the district boundary board fails to follow the time schedules prescribed in ORS 330.107 or to approve a request or petition under subsection (3) of this section, the district school boards of the affected school districts or the petitioners may appeal to the State Board of Education to order the proposed boundary change or merger. The state board shall order the change or merger and shall direct the district boundary board to perform the duties described in ORS 330.101 in the same manner as if the district boundary board had ordered the boundary change or merger.

(7) As used in this section, "affected district" includes:

(a) Two or more districts providing education in kindergarten and grades 1 through 12 involved in the merger.

(b) All component school districts, not including any split school districts, as defined in ORS 335.482, and the union high school district if merger procedures are used for the unification of the union high school district and its component districts.

(c) The union high school district and the component school districts, not including split school districts, in a secession from the union high school district by one or more of the component districts and the unified district they wish to join.

(d) Two or more districts offering education in kindergarten and grades 1 through 6 or 8 that would create a split school district by merger and the union high school district and the component school districts of the union high school district. [1963 c.282 §13(1), (8); 1965 c.100 §73; 1967 c.298 §1; 1969 c.235 §1; 1979 c.256 §1; 1985 c.364 §1; 1989 c.491 §14; 1989 c.819 §3; 1991 c.167 §7; 1993 c.112 §2; 1993 c.329 §1]