§ 33-511 — MAINTENANCE OF SCHOOLS

The board of trustees of each school district shall have the following powers and duties:
(1) Each elementary school district shall maintain at least one (1) elementary school, and each other school district shall maintain at least one (1) elementary school and one (1) secondary school;
(2) To employ necessary help and labor to maintain and operate the schools of the district;
(3) To discontinue any school within the district whenever it shall find such discontinuance to be in the best interests of the district and of the pupils therein. For the purposes of this section, discontinuing a school shall mean no longer maintaining a school of any kind, at the same location, except in the case of secondary units as herein provided.
(a) When any school proposed to be discontinued is one which was operated and maintained by a former district now wholly incorporated within the boundaries of the district operated by said board of trustees, and, immediately following reorganization and the dissolution of said former district, such school has been continuously operated and maintained at the same location by the presently organized district, the following procedures shall apply before discontinuing a school:
(i) The board of trustees must first give notice of such proposal not later than the first day of June next preceding the date of the proposed discontinuance. Such notice shall be posted, and published once, in the manner provided in section 33-402, Idaho Code, and shall identify the school proposed to be discontinued.
(ii) If, not later than the first day of July following the posting and publishing of the notice of discontinuance, five (5) or more qualified school district electors residing within the school district shall petition the board of trustees for an election to be held within the school district on the question of discontinuance of that school, the board of trustees shall immediately order an election to be held on the first available election date provided by section 34-106 (7), Idaho Code, that is at least fifty (50) days following the date of said order and shall give notice of the election.
(iii) Notice of such election shall be posted at or near the main door of the school proposed to be discontinued and at or near the main door of the administrative offices of the school district and shall also be published in one (1) issue of a newspaper printed in the county in which is situate the school proposed to be discontinued. The notice shall state the date the election is to be held, the place of voting, and the hours between which the polls shall be open. In addition, the notice of election shall describe the area of the particular attendance unit of the school district and shall identify the school proposed to be discontinued; and it shall state that only qualified school district electors residing within the school district may vote on the question of discontinuing the school.
(iv) The election shall be held within the school district and there shall be submitted to the electors a ballot containing the proposal:
1. For discontinuing the school located at….,
2. Against discontinuing the school located at…..
(v) If a majority of the qualified electors, as defined in this section and voting in the election, shall vote against discontinuing that school, then said school shall not be discontinued; and no proposal to discontinue the same school shall be made by the board of trustees of the district within nine (9) months after the date of the election.
(vi) If a secondary unit which the trustees of a district propose to close is more than thirty (30) miles by all-weather road from the attendance unit to which it is proposed to transfer such students, then, notwithstanding other provisions of this section, five (5) electors residing within the attendance area of the unit proposed to be closed may, as provided by this section, petition the board of trustees requesting an election to determine whether or not such attendance unit, or any portion of it, shall be closed. The board shall immediately call and hold an election as herein provided. However, for the purpose of this section relating to the secondary attendance unit thirty (30) miles or more distant from another secondary attendance unit, only the patrons resident in this attendance area shall be eligible to vote, except for attendance units, or portions of them, created after January 1, 2002, in which case qualified school district electors throughout the school district shall be eligible to vote. The election shall be deemed passed and the unit shall not be closed if a majority of those voting in the election vote in favor of retaining the attendance unit.
(b) The provisions of paragraph (a) of this subsection shall not apply when:
(i) The administrator of the division of occupational and professional licenses has determined that the school constitutes an imminent public safety hazard and has issued an order or notice requiring the school district superintendent, principal, board member or other person in charge to cause all persons, except those necessary to eliminate the condition, to be withdrawn from and to be restrained from entering the school, pursuant to section 39-8008, Idaho Code; and
(ii) The school district board of trustees have voted at a public meeting to discontinue the school.

Legislative History

[33-511, added 1963, ch. 13, sec. 61, p. 27; am. 1967, ch. 366, sec. 1, p. 1057; am. 1973, ch. 5, sec. 1, p. 10; am. 2000, ch. 424, sec. 1, p. 1375; am. 2002, ch. 317, sec. 1, p. 898; am. 2011, ch. 125, sec. 1, p. 351; am. 2011, ch. 151, sec. 17, p. 427; am. 2021, ch. 325, sec. 1, p. 990; am. 2023, ch. 15, sec. 2, p. 67.]