Opinion ID: 2112848
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Authority to Change School District Boundaries

Text: Within constitutional limitations, the legislature ultimately controls the creation, division, and abolishment of school districts. People v. Wood, 411 Ill. 514, 522, 104 N.E.2d 800 (1952). This court has repeatedly recognized that any school district established under enabling legislation is: `entirely subject to the will of the legislature thereafter. With or without the consent of the inhabitants of a school district, over their protests, even without notice or hearing, the State may take the school facilities in the district, without giving compensation therefor, and vest them in other districts or agencies.    The area of the district may be contracted or expanded, it may be divided, united in whole or in part with another district, and the district may be abolished. All this at the will of the legislature.' Elementary School District 159 v. Schiller, 221 Ill.2d 130, 155, 302 Ill.Dec. 557, 849 N.E.2d 349 (2006), quoting People ex rel. Dixon v. Community Unit School District No. 3, 2 Ill.2d 454, 465-66, 118 N.E.2d 241 (1954). This court has further explained that a school district is a quasi-municipal corporation created by the state to act as its administrative arm to implement the establishment of free schools. Wood, 411 Ill. at 522, 104 N.E.2d 800. The legislature may delegate its power to change school district boundaries to school authorities, who exercise that power in their discretion, guided by statutory standards. School District No. 79 v. County Board of School Trustees, 4 Ill.2d 533, 538-40, 123 N.E.2d 475 (1954). Although the residents of a school district may initiate a petition for detachment and annexation because of personal desires or convenience, the decision to change established school district boundaries rests within the discretion of the appropriate school agency. Oakdale Community Consolidated School District No. 1 v. County Board of School Trustees, 12 Ill.2d 190, 193, 145 N.E.2d 736 (1957). Of course, the legislature must exercise this significant power within constitutional limitations. School district lines are not sacrosanct and they must not conflict with the fourteenth amendment. See Milliken v. Bradley, 418 U.S. 717, 744, 94 S.Ct. 3112, 3127, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069, 1091 (1974).