Opinion ID: 1648991
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: petition method: procedures

Text: A reorganization utilizing the petition method may be initiated in one of two ways: by a petition signed by voters or by the actions of the districts' school boards. Section 79-413(1) allows for the creation of a new school district from other districts by a petition signed by voters. It provides that the State Committee may create a new district if it receives a petition signed by 60 percent of legal voters of each district affected. If the petition is signed by at least 65 percent of legal voters, the State Committee shall approve the petitions. The reorganized district in this case was created using the second type of procedure authorized by law. That is, the creation of a new school district from other districts may also be initiated and accepted by the school board of any district rather than petitions signed by voters. § 79-415(1). We recognized the distinction between these two procedures in Leibbrandt v. Lomax, 228 Neb. 552, 557, 423 N.W.2d 453, 456-57 (1988), where we stated: Sections 79-402 [now codified at § 79-413] and 79-402.03 [now codified at § 79-415] provide alternative methods for creation of a new school district from existing school districts. By § [79-413], a school district's legal voters may petition for a change of the district's boundaries. By § [79-415], a school district's board of education may initiate or accept a proposed change of a district's boundaries or the creation of a new district by merger of existing districts. Action under § [79-415] may be characterized as a board-to-board petition for a change of a school district's boundaries or merger of existing school districts. The board-to-board petition is as efficacious as a petition by a school district's legal voters to effect a school district's boundary change or merger involving another district. Although § 79-413 expressly addresses only petitions for reorganization initiated by voters, a number of its provisions apply equally to petitions initiated by school boards. See § 79-418. Thus, a petition to create a new school district, initiated by a school board, must be submitted to the State Committee, § 79-413(3)(a); must satisfy the requirements of § 79-419 for content; and must be subject to a public hearing before the State Committee, § 79-413(3)(a). A petition submitted to and reviewed by the State Committee shall not become effective unless it is approved by a vote of a majority of the members of the State Committee. § 79-418.