Template for County-level Reorganization Studies
A template for use at the county-level to prepare studies of school district reorganization proposals.Now available is a proposed Local SDO (School District Organization) Studies Template (DOCX) for use by County Superintendents of Schools (as secretaries to County Committees on School District Organization) to prepare studies of school district organization proposals.
The proposed template has been prepared by the School District Organization (SDO) unit of the California Department of Education based on its understanding of best practices in the school district organization process. There is no legal or administrative requirement that the template be used by County Superintendents in local actions regarding school district organization proposals. The template is exemplary and, except for statutes, regulations, and court decisions that are referenced therein, compliance with any content of the template by any local educational agency is not mandatory.
The SDO unit also notes that there is no specific statutory requirement that a County Superintendent prepare a study of school district organization proposal of any type for use by the County Committee in analyzing and acting on a proposal. However, the SDO unit recommends that a report similar to what is described in the following template be prepared for the following reasons:
- Focus the County Committee on its discretionary authority to approve or disapprove a reorganization proposal;
- Increase transparency of the County Committee’s process; and
- Provide an enhanced understanding of the County Committee’s action should its decisions be appealed to the State Board of Education (SBE).
Numerous resources are referenced in the template, including:
- The School District Organization Handbook: School District Organization Handbook
- The California Education Code: Codes: Code Search (ca.gov)
; - State Board of Education Procedures Relating to Hearings on Proposals and Petitions for the Reorganization of School Districts: Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations: Browse - California Code of Regulations (westlaw.com)
.