260C.39 - COMBINING MERGED AREAS -- ELECTION.

        260C.39  COMBINING MERGED AREAS -- ELECTION.
         1.  Any merged area may combine with any adjacent merged area
      after a favorable vote by the electors of each of the areas involved.
      If the boards of directors of two or more merged areas agree to a
      combination, the question shall be submitted to the electors of each
      area at an election held on a date specified in section 39.2,
      subsection 4, paragraph "c", and held on the same day in each
      area.  Prior to the election, the board of each merged area shall
      notify the county commissioner of elections of the county in which
      the greatest proportion of the merged area's taxable base is located,
      who shall publish notice of the election according to section 49.53.
      The two respective county commissioners of elections shall conduct
      the election pursuant to the provisions of chapters 39 to 53.  The
      votes cast in the election shall be canvassed by the county board of
      supervisors, and the county commissioner of elections of each county
      in the merged areas shall certify the results to the board of
      directors of each merged area.
         2.  If the vote is favorable in each merged area, the boards of
      each area shall proceed to transfer the assets, liabilities, and
      facilities of the areas to the combined merged area, and shall serve
      as the acting board of the combined merged area until a new board of
      directors is elected.  The acting board shall submit to the director
      of the department of education a plan for redistricting the combined
      merged area, and upon receiving approval from the director, shall
      provide for the election of a director from each new district at the
      next regular school election.  The directors elected from each new
      district shall determine their terms by lot so that the terms of
      one-third of the members, as nearly as may be, expire each year.
      Election of directors for the combined merged area shall follow the
      procedures established for election of directors of a merged area.  A
      combined merged area is subject to all provisions of law and rules
      governing merged areas.
         3.  The terms of employment of personnel, for the academic year
      following the effective date of the agreement to combine the merged
      areas shall not be affected by the combination of the merged areas,
      except in accordance with the procedures under sections 279.15 to
      279.18 and section 279.24, to the extent those procedures are
      applicable, or under the terms of the base bargaining agreement.  The
      authority and responsibility to offer new contracts or to continue,
      modify, or terminate existing contracts pursuant to any applicable
      procedures under chapter 279, shall be transferred to the acting, and
      then to the new, board of the combined merged area upon certification
      of a favorable vote to each of the merged areas affected by the
      agreement.  The collective bargaining agreement of the merged area
      receiving the greatest amount of general state aid shall serve as the
      base agreement for the combined merged area and the employees of the
      merged areas which combined to form the new combined merged area
      shall automatically be accreted to the bargaining unit from that
      former merged area for purposes of negotiating the contracts for the
      following years without further action by the public employment
      relations board.  If only one collective bargaining agreement is in
      effect among the merged areas which are combining under this section,
      then that agreement shall serve as the base agreement, and the
      employees of the merged areas which are combining to form the new
      combined merged area shall automatically be accreted to the
      bargaining unit of that former merged area for purposes of
      negotiating the contracts for the following years without further
      action by the public employment relations board.  The board of the
      combined merged area, using the base agreement as its existing
      contract, shall bargain with the combined employees of the merged
      areas that have agreed to combine for the academic year beginning
      with the effective date of the agreement to combine merged areas.
      The bargaining shall be completed by March 15 prior to the academic
      year in which the agreement to combine merged areas becomes effective
      or within one hundred eighty days after the organization of the
      acting board of the new combined merged area, whichever is later.  If
      a bargaining agreement was already concluded in the former merged
      area which has the collective bargaining agreement that is serving as
      the base agreement for the new combined merged area, between the
      former merged area board and the employees of the former merged area,
      that agreement is void, unless the agreement contained multiyear
      provisions affecting academic years subsequent to the effective date
      of the agreement to form a combined merged area.  If the base
      collective bargaining agreement contains multiyear provisions, the
      duration and effect of the agreement shall be controlled by the terms
      of the agreement.  The provisions of the base agreement shall apply
      to the offering of new contracts, or the continuation, modification,
      or termination of existing contracts between the acting or new board
      of the combined merged area and the combined employees of the new
      combined merged area.  
         Section History: Early Form
         [C71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, § 280A.39] 
         Section History: Recent Form
         86 Acts, ch 1245, § 1475; 90 Acts, ch 1168, § 40; 90 Acts, ch
      1253, § 44; 91 Acts, ch 117, §2
         C93, § 260C.39
         96 Acts, ch 1215, § 33; 97 Acts, ch 23, §27; 2008 Acts, ch 1115, §
      37, 71
         Referred to in § 331.383