33-308. EXCISION AND ANNEXATION OF TERRITORY. (1) A board of trustees of any school district, including a specially chartered school district, or one-fourth (1/4) or more of the school district electors residing in an area of not more than fifty (50) square miles within which there is no schoolhouse or facility necessary for the operation of a school district, may petition in writing proposing the annexation of the area to another and contiguous school district.
(2) Such petition shall be in duplicate, one (1) copy of which shall be presented to the board of trustees of the district from which the area is proposed to be excised, and the other to the board of trustees of the district to which the area is proposed to be annexed. The petition shall contain:
(a) The names and addresses of the petitioners;
(b) A legal description of the area proposed to be excised from one district and annexed to another contiguous district. Such legal description shall be prepared by a licensed attorney, licensed professional land surveyor, or licensed professional engineer professionally trained and experienced in legal descriptions of real property;
(c) Maps showing the boundaries of the districts as they presently appear and as they would appear should the excision and annexation be approved;
(d) The names of the school districts from and to which the area is proposed to be excised and annexed;
(e) A description of reasons for which the petition is being submitted; and
(f) An estimate of the number of children residing in the area described in the petition.
(3) The board of trustees of each school district, no later than thirty (30) calendar days after its first regular meeting held subsequent to receipt of the petition, shall transmit the petition, with recommendations, to the state board of education.
(4) The state board of education shall approve the proposal, provided:
(a) The excision and annexation is in the best interests of the children residing in the area described in the petition; and
(b) The excision of the territory, as proposed, would not leave a school district with a bonded debt in excess of the limit then prescribed by law.
If either condition is not met, the state board shall disapprove the proposal. The approval or disapproval shall be expressed in writing to the board of trustees of each school district named in the petition.
(5) If the state board of education approves the proposal, it shall be submitted to the school district electors residing in the district from which the area is proposed to be excised and in the district to which the area is proposed to be annexed, at an election held in the manner provided in chapter 14, title 34, Idaho Code. Such election shall be held on the date authorized in section 34-106, Idaho Code, that is nearest to sixty (60) days after the state board approves the proposal.
(6) At the election, there shall be submitted to the electors having the qualifications of electors in a school district bond election:
(a) The question of whether the area described in the petition shall be excised from school district no. ( ) and annexed to contiguous school district no. ( ); and
(b) The question of assumption of the appropriate proportion of any bonded debt, and the interest thereon, of the proposed annexing school district.
(7) In order for a proposal to excise and annex an area to be approved:
(a) The proposal must be approved by a majority of electors voting in the election in both:
(i) The district from which the area is proposed to be excised; and
(ii) The district to which the area is proposed to be annexed; and
(b) The electors voting on the question of the assumption of bonded debt and interest have approved such assumption by the proportion of votes cast as is required by section 3, article VIII, of the constitution of the state of Idaho.
(8) If the proposal is approved by the electors in the manner prescribed, the board of canvassers shall promptly notify the state department of education and the affected school districts of such results. The superintendent of public instruction shall make an appropriate order for the boundaries of the affected school districts to be altered, and the legal descriptions of the school districts shall be altered as prescribed in section 33-307, Idaho Code.
History:
[33-308, added 1963, ch. 13, sec. 38, p. 27; am. 1998, ch. 244, sec. 2, p. 804; am. 2009, ch. 107, sec. 2, p. 340; am. 2009, ch. 341, sec. 24, p. 1008; am. 2010, ch. 215, sec. 1, p. 482; am. 2020, ch. 288, sec. 1, p. 833.]