Judges: Steve Clark, Attorney General
Filed Date: 3/23/1990
Status: Precedential
Modified Date: 7/5/2016
The Honorable Pat Flanagin State Representative P.O. Box 867 Forrest City, AR 72335
Dear Representative Flanagin:
This is in response to your request for an opinion on the following questions:
1. Once consolidated, can a school district legally `de-consolidate' and return to the former school district boundaries?
2. If a school district can legally `de-consolidate,' would any consolidation incentive funding received during the consolidation period have to be refunded to the State?
In response to your first question, there appears to be no statutory procedure for a district to "de-consolidate", once consolidated; or, in other words, "un-do" the consolidation and automatically return to the former boundaries. See, e.g., Curtis v. Haynes Special School Dist. H.,
With regard to your second question, if the consolidated district is dissolved and the procedures followed for the creation of new districts from that territory, it must be recognized that the new districts will succeed to the property of the dissolved district, and will be liable for all of its contracts and debts. See A.C.A. 6-13-220 to 221. Your second question could arise in this context, since the "incentive allowance" was obviously instituted and phased in over several years in order to encourage and facilitate consolidation, under the assumption that the consolidated district would remain in existence. See A.C.A. 6-20-309 (Supp. 1989). While there appears to be no legislative mechanism for a refund of the consolidation allowance, there may be instances where equitable considerations could come into play, mitigating against the district's retention of the incentive funding. The Arkansas Supreme Court has recognized the principle that the power to dissolve a district "shall not impair the contracts or obligations of such district." Curtis v. Haynes Special School Dist. H., supra,
The foregoing opinion, which I hereby approve, was prepared by Assistant Attorney General Elisabeth A. Walker.