Decorah and North Winneshiek school board members are working on the steps necessary for a referendum on consolidation

North Winneshiek and Decorah school officials continue to work on the merger of the two districts.

School officials hope the reorganization will go into effect for the fall of 2019.  Before then voters in both school districts need to approve the reorganization.

The next step in the process is to create and approve a petition describing the basic legal requirements, including a description of the area to be included in the newly reorganized district.  After the language of the petition is approved by the respective school boards, eligible voters within each district would have to sign the petition.  The Decorah School District will need at least 400 signatures and the North Winneshiek School District will need at least 237 signatures, according to Winneshiek County Auditor Ben Steines.

The signed petition would be filed not with the State of Iowa, but with Keystone AEA.  The area education agency would then hold a public hearing on the reorganization proposal and then either schedule an election or dismiss the petition.

North Winneshiek and Decorah school board members are hoping that this part of the process can be finished by the end of October.  That would allow a special election on the reorganization to be held in February.  State law says such elections can be scheduled on one of only four days a year, so the process has deadlines to meet.

When the election is held—February 6th or on another, later date—the results will be determined by which side has a simple majority of the votes (Unlike bond referendum votes, which require 60 percent approval).

If the vote favors reorganization, the new combined school district would officially begin operating on July 1st of 2019.