Court Opinion

ID: 9515205
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-06 22:54:33.078957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:06:26.113789
License: Public Domain

GILBERTSON, Chief Justice.
[¶ 1.] Kelly Kirby, Renee Kirby, Kenneth Kirby, Renea Kirby, Francis Kirby, Theresa Kirby, James R. Brown, John Lake, James A. Lake (collectively, Petitioners) and the Gettysburg School District appeal the denial of their petition for a minor school district boundary change by the Hoven School Board (Board). We affirm.
FACTS AND PROCEDURE
[¶ 2.] Petitioners filed for a minor boundary change in order to transfer their property from the Hoven School District to the Gettysburg School District. Kelly and Renee Kirby live on a farm in the Hoven School District and have three minor children: Brook, age nine, Carson, age six, and Colton, age three. The school-age children currently attend school in Gettysburg due to open enrollment, and they represent the only children residing on land included in the petition.
[¶ 3.] Kenneth and Renea Kirby are Kelly Kirby’s parents. Francis and Theresa Kirby are Kelly Kirby’s aunt and uncle. All of these members of the Kirby family reside on land included in the petition. James R. Brown, John Lake, and James A. Lake are the remaining property owners included in the petition, although they have never resided on any of the land covered by the petition.
[¶ 4.] The Gettysburg School District approved the petition. On, November 2, 2002, however, the Board denied Petitioner’s minor boundary change petition, furnishing them with written reasons for the denial. Petitioners then appealed the Board’s decision to the circuit court as authorized by SDCL 13-6-85. After proceedings before the court including testimony and presentation of evidence by both Petitioners and the Board, the circuit court entered findings of fact and conclusions of law affirming the Board’s denial of the petition for minor boundary change. Petitioners now appeal raising as the sole issue for our review:
Whether the Board’s decision to deny the minor boundary change petition was arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.
Affirmed.
STANDARD OF REVIEW
[¶ 5.] We employ the arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable standard of review on appeals concerning school district boundary disputes. Johnson v. Lennox School Dist. No. 41-4, 2002 SD 89, ¶ 8, 649 N.W.2d 617, 621 (quoting Smith v. Canton School Dist. No. 4-1, 1999 SD 111, ¶ 9, 599 N.W.2d 637, 639-40). “A decision is arbitrary and capricious when it is ‘not governed by any fixed rules or standard.’ ” Id. (citation omitted). Although the circuit court determined the Board acted correctly in denying the petition, our review proceeds “unfettered by any presumption that the circuit court correctly decided the matter in its review.” Id. Instead, this Court must examine the record in order to discern if the Board’s decision was based upon and supported by substantial evidence. Id. (citing Colman-Egan School *907Dist. No. 50-5 v. Jones, 520 N.W.2d 890, 892 (S.D.1994) (citation omitted)). “Substantial evidence has been defined as ‘such relevant and competent evidence as a reasonable mind might accept as adequate to support a conclusion.’ ” Oelrichs School Dist. No. 23-3 v. Sides, 1997 SD 55, ¶ 10, 562 N.W.2d 907, 911 (quoting Oldham-Ramona School Dist. No. 39-5 v. Ust, 502 N.W.2d 574, 581 (S.D.1993)).
ANALYSIS AND DECISION
[¶ 6.] Whether the Board’s decision to deny the minor boundary change petition was arbitrary, capricious, or unreasonable.
[¶ 7.] There is no dispute that the petition at issue in this case implicates the minor boundary change statutory scheme.1 Our only task on this appeal is to ascertain whether the Board’s decision to deny the petition was supported by substantial, competent evidence. With this limited scope of review in mind, we have consistently utilized the following five factors to aid our review in minor boundary change decisions:
1.Whether the petitioners are more closely aligned to the economic, social and religious life of the community into which they are being transferred.
2. Whether there is bus service to the residence.
3. Whether the district line which places their property in the current district was drawn in an arbitrary fashion.
4. Whether petitioner’s child has special needs best met in the District petitioners are attempting to join.
5. Whether the petitioners live closer to the school district they are joining as opposed to the district they are leaving.
Johnson, 2002 SD 89, ¶ 11, 649 N.W.2d at 622; Smith, 1999 SD 111, ¶ 9, 599 N.W.2d at 640; Sides, 1997 SD 55, ¶ 11, 562 N.W.2d at 911; Colman-Egan, 520 N.W.2d at 892. Both the Board and circuit court applied the above factors in denying Petitioners’ request. After a review of the record, we believe substantial evidence exists to support the Board’s decision to deny the petition. We address each of these factors in turn.

Petitioners’ Alignment with Gettysburg School District

[¶ 8.] Although they do some business in Hoven, both the Board and circuit court *908found that Petitioners were more closely aligned^to the social, economic; and religious life of the community of Gettysburg. This factor favors the Petitioners.

Bus Service

[¶ 9.] Currently, Gettysburg does not provide bus service to the two Kirby children who open-enroll to its school district. Although there was some discrepancy at the Board meeting, at trial a Gettysburg official indicated it would provide bus service to. the Kirby residence if the petition was granted. Hoven School District indicated it would provide bus service to Lebanon, South Dakota, approximately eight miles from the Kelly Kirby residence where the school-age children reside. While this factor certainly favors the Kirby family with children, see Smith, 1999 SD 111, ¶ 15, 599 N.W.2d at 641, it does not affect the remaining Petitioners who do not have children in need of bus service.2

Arbitrariness of School District Boundaries

[¶ 10.] The Board and circuit court found that the boundaries of the Hoven School District were not arbitrarily drawn. While Petitioners are correct in pointing out this Court approved a minor boundary change transferring property from the Hoven School District to the Gettysburg District in Kellogg v. Hoven School Dist. No. 53-2, 479 N.W.2d 147 (S.D.1991), that decision did not specifically find that the entire Hoven district was arbitrarily drawn.
[¶ 11.] On the other hand, the Board and circuit court found that the petition’s proposed boundary would result in the Ho-ven School District’s boundary becoming arbitrarily drawn. The circuit court again noted that the sole petitioners with minor children living on the land included in the petition, Kelly and Renee Kirby, live only three miles from the Gettysburg school district. Nevertheless, the petition includes land four and one-half miles further east, and two miles further south, and one and one-half miles further north than the Kelly and Renee Kirby property. The land included in the petition forms a checkerboard pattern. Very little of the extra land is needed to connect the Kelly and Renee Kirby land to the Gettysburg boundary. The circuit court also observed that the land included in the current petition lies at the end of peninsula of land formed as a result of a previous boundary change, Based on the record before us, “[t]here was substantial evidence for the circuit court to find that the original boundary was not drawn in an arbitrary fashion and to find that the new boundary would be arbitrary.” Sides, 1997 SD 55, ¶ 22, 562 N.W.2d at 913.

Special Needs of the Children

[¶ 12.] None of the children residing on the land included in the petition have special needs.

Distance of Petitioners from Hoven and Gettysburg School Districts

[¶ 13.] The Kelly and Renee Kirby family, the only petitioners with minor children residing on the land included in the petition, lives thirteen miles from Gettysburg and slightly less than twenty-one miles to Hoven — a difference of less than eight miles. We have previously indicated that distances of nine and one-half miles, Jones, 520 N.W.2d at 893, and twelve miles, Oldham-Ramona, 502 N.W.2d at 584 was “not so significant as to result in *909much longer bus rides.” The Kirby’s have not raised any particular reasons why this brief difference would be of special concern. See id. Additionally, we note that while all of the roads from the Kirby residence to Gettysburg are gravel, all but eight miles of the road to Hoven are paved. This is significant because in times of inclement weather, paved roads are cleared first. Day to day travel is also faster on paved roads. Considering these observations and the fact that this factor only applies to the two Petitioners who have minor children living on the land included in the petition, we are unable to say this factor indicates the Board acted unreasonably.

Other Factors

[¶ 14.] In addition to the above factors, the Board also considered economic loss in granting this particular petition for minor boundary change. Economic factors, when considered “in conjunction with other relevant factors,” may be valid considerations for a school board to take into account in reviewing these types of petitions. Sides, 1997 SD 55, ¶ 28, 562 N.W.2d at 913 (emphasis omitted); see Jones, 520 N.W.2d at 893 (“[W]e have never held that a school district’s economic interests are irrelevant in considering a boundary change petition.” (quoting Old-ham-Ramona, 502 N.W.2d at 582)). Economic loss was certainly not the only factor the Board considered, however, as the analysis above indicates.
[¶ 15.] Here, it appears that rather than necessity or convenience of children to attend a different school district, the majority of Petitioners were primarily motivated by financial and other concerns. In this case, both the Board and circuit court placed emphasis on the fact that only Kelly and Renee Kirby had minor children who would be directly affected by the boundary change and that only a small portion of the land contained in the petition would be needed to move their property into the Gettysburg school district. Yet, the other Petitioners’ land was tacked onto the petition seemingly in an effort to move as much property into the Gettysburg district as would be allowable under SDCL 13-6-85. At trial, Petitioners’ consistently identified wanting to help out the Gettysburg school district because of a perceived imbalance between it and the Hoven school district.
[¶ 16.] In sum, the factors commonly used to guide our analysis in this type of case suggest the Board acted reasonably ■in denying Petitioners’ minor boundary change petition. Under our limited standard of review, the relevant inquiry is not what this Court would have decided but whether the Board relied upon substantial evidence in making its decision. We therefore affirm the judgment of the circuit court finding that the Board did not act arbitrarily or capriciously in denying the petition.
[¶ 17.] KONENKAMP and ZINTER, Justices, concur specially.
[¶ 18.] SABERS and. MEIERHENRY, Justices, dissent.

. SDCL 13-6-84.1 sets the following criteria for boundary changes:
(1) The boundary of the area proposed to be transferred shall be coterminous at some point with the common boundary of the two school districts!].]
(2) Children must reside within the boundary of the area to be transferred, unless it is an area change initiated by a school board as provided in § 13-6-84.2.
SDCL 13-6-85 further provides in pertinent part:
A boundary change, affecting not more than two percent of the assessed valuation and not more than two percent of the tax-exempt acreage or other tax-exempt property to be determined at the discretion of the school district from which the area is to be taken, may be made upon an application for a boundary change to the school board of the school district from which the area is to be taken and to the school board of the school district to which the area is to be annexed, in the form of a petition signed by all of the owners of land, excluding land owned by the state or any other political subdivision in the area to be transferred by the boundary change. Copies of the petitions shall also be delivered by the petitioners to the board of county commissioners having jurisdiction over the school districts affected.
There is no dispute the statutory requirements are met in this case: the land included in the petition constitutes 1.99% of the Hoven School District’s assessed value; three children live on the land included in the petition; the land is conterminous with the Gettysburg School District; and all registered voters residing on the land signed the petition.

. Although Petitioner John Lake has two school-age children, they live in Gettysburg and have never resided on the land included in the petition. Thus, the interests of these children are not germane to the minor boundary change petition before us.