15-825.02. Certificates of educational convenience; unorganized territory

A. If the annual number of certificates of educational convenience or students attending through open enrollment into any adjacent school district from a single unorganized territory exceeds one hundred fifty, the superintendent of public instruction shall notify the county school superintendent and the county school superintendent shall notify the residents of the unorganized territory that the residents are required to join an adjacent school district.  If the adjacent school district is a common school district that is within the boundaries of a union high school district, the unorganized territory shall join both the common school district and the union high school district.  If the adjacent school district is a common school district that is not within the boundaries of a high school district, the unorganized territory shall join the common school district, and high school pupils who reside in the previously unorganized territory shall be educated in the same manner as high school pupils who reside in the common school district.

B. The superintendent of public instruction shall notify the county school superintendent that the conditions prescribed in subsection A have occurred, and the county school superintendent shall prepare a ballot question to be voted on by the residents of the unorganized territory at the next general election to determine whether to join an adjacent existing school district.

C. Students attending an adjacent existing school district through open enrollment or through certificates of educational convenience that were approved before notification by the superintendent of public instruction pursuant to subsection B may continue enrollment in that existing school district until the unorganized territory joins a school district. Any students attending an adjacent existing school district through open enrollment or through certificates of educational convenience shall be allowed to continue enrollment in that existing school district even if the unorganized territory joins with a different adjacent school district.  Any sibling of a student who continues to attend an adjacent existing school district through open enrollment or a certificate of educational convenience shall also be allowed to attend the same adjacent existing school district.