(1) If two or more education service districts desire to join together for the purpose of forming one education service district, a petition from each such district shall be presented to the State Board of Education when:
(a) Resolutions are presented to each of the education service district boards by the boards of the component school districts that represent two-thirds of the component school districts that are a part of each of the education service districts and that have at least a majority of the pupils included in the average daily membership of the education service district, as determined by the reports of such school districts for the preceding school year, enrolled in the schools of the districts; or
(b) The education service district boards mutually consent to the merger and a majority vote of each board has approved a petition.
(2) The State Board of Education shall review the petitions and within 15 days after the board meeting at which the petitions are reviewed, shall notify the education service district boards of each district designated by the petitions, fix the date of and be responsible for supervising the giving of notices as provided in ORS 330.400 and conducting the public hearings in each proposing district to discuss the proposal contained in the petitions. [1963 c.544 §50b; 1965 c.100 §204; 1983 c.83 §67; 1983 c.284 §12; 2001 c.518 §7; 2019 c.449 §33]