FOR AN ACT ENTITLED, An Act to restrict the use of minor adjustments to school district boundaries and to revise the application process for minor boundary changes.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF SOUTH DAKOTA:
    Section 1. That § 13-6-85 be amended to read as follows:
    13-6-85. A boundary change, affecting not more than two percent of the assessed valuation and not more than two percent of the tax-exempt acreage or other tax-exempt property to be determined at the discretion of the school district from which the area is to be taken, may be made upon an application for a boundary change to the school board of the school district from which the area is to be taken and to the school board of the school district to which the area is to be annexed,. The area to be annexed shall include at least five single family or multifamily residential units or consist solely of land containing no residential units. If the area includes residential units, the application shall be in the form of a petition signed by at least sixty percent of the owners of land, excluding land owned by the state or any other political subdivision in the area to be transferred by the boundary change. If the area consists solely of land containing

no residential units, the application shall be in the form of a petition signed by all of the owners of land, excluding land owned by the state or any other political subdivision in the area to be transferred by the boundary change. Copies of the petitions shall also be delivered by the petitioners to the board of county commissioners having jurisdiction over the school districts affected. Any petitioner who is aggrieved by a decision of the school board under this section may appeal that decision.

    An appeal from the decision of the school board may be made to the circuit court in the time and manner specified by § 13-46-1 or to the secretary of the Department of Education or the secretary's representative within thirty days from the date of the decision of the school board by filing a notice with the secretary of the school board and mailing a copy of the notice to the secretary of the Department of Education. An appeal to the secretary of the Department of Education may be heard by the secretary or the secretary's representative. The secretary of the Department of Education shall thereafter set a time and place for the hearing and give at least ten days' written notice of the hearing to the parties involved in the appeal, including all affected school districts. An appeal to the secretary is not a contested case subject to chapter 1-26. An appeal from the decision of the secretary may be made pursuant to § 13-6-89. On appeal from a decision of the secretary, the appeal shall be heard and determined in the same manner as a direct appeal from the school board decision pursuant to § 13-6-89 and chapter 13-46 without any presumption of the correctness of the decision of the secretary nor may the provisions of § 1-26-36 be applied to the decision of the secretary. Nothing in this section affects the right of an aggrieved party to appeal from the decision of the school board to the circuit court.