20-6-211. Joint elementary district dissolution. (1) Any joint elementary district may be dissolved. A proposition to dissolve a joint elementary district shall be introduced by a petition signed by a majority of the electors, qualified under the provisions of 20-20-301, who reside in the territory of the joint district that is located within one county. Such petition shall be addressed and presented to the county superintendent of the county of residence of the petitioners.
     (2) Whenever a county superintendent receives a valid petition for the dissolution of a joint elementary district, he shall immediately notify the county superintendents of all the other counties with territory located in the joint district. The county superintendents jointly shall, within 10 days after the receipt of the petition and as provided by 20-20-201, order the trustees of the joint district to call an election. The trustees shall call and conduct, at the same time, separate elections in each portion of the joint district that is located in a separate county. Such elections shall be called and conducted in the manner prescribed in this title for school elections and shall be considered as if each were an election in a separate district. An elector who may vote at a joint district dissolution election shall be qualified to vote under the provisions of 20-20-301. The election judges for each separate election in the joint district shall send the election certificate to the county superintendent of the county in which they serve.
     (3) After the receipt of the election certificates, the county superintendents shall jointly determine the result of such election on the following basis:
     (a) if a majority of all the joint district electors voting at each election conducted in the joint district are in favor of the dissolution of the joint district, the dissolution of the joint elementary district shall be approved;
     (b) if two-thirds of the electors voting at one of the elections conducted in a county's portion of the joint district vote in favor of the joint district dissolution, the dissolution of that portion of such joint district may be approved if all the county superintendents involved in such dissolution proposition agree that such dissolution will not place an undue hardship on any other county's portion of the joint district and there is no good and sufficient reason why such dissolution should not be made; or
     (c) if the conditions of either subsection (3)(a) or (3)(b) cannot be satisfied, the dissolution of the joint district shall be disapproved.
     (4) The county superintendents shall jointly order the joint elementary district dissolution if the proposition is approved and, whether it has been approved or disapproved, shall jointly notify the joint district of the result. The dissolution of a joint district shall become effective on the first day of the ensuing school fiscal year.
     (5) When the dissolution of a joint elementary district has been approved and ordered under subsection (3)(a) above, the county superintendent of each county shall individually order the attachment of the territory of the dissolved joint elementary district within his county to a contiguous elementary district within his county except when a school is operated in such territory, in which case the territory shall operate as a separate elementary district of the county.
     (6) When the dissolution of a joint elementary district has been approved and ordered under the provisions of subsection (3)(b) above, the county superintendent of the county where the dissolved portion of the joint elementary district is located shall attach such territory to a contiguous elementary district within his county.
     (7) In the event a dissolution proposition is disapproved, no subsequent joint elementary district dissolution election shall be held within 3 years thereafter.

     History: En. 75-6514 by Sec. 173, Ch. 5, L. 1971; R.C.M. 1947, 75-6514.