Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock [WSR] entered into a whole-grade sharing agreement with Ackley-Geneva on January 25, 1999. As a result of the two-way sharing agreement, WSR will send its 9-12 students to Ackley. Ackley-Geneva will send its middle school students (6-8) to Wellsburg. The agreement will commence with the 1999-2000 school year. It is scheduled to continue through the 2002-2003 school year. Appellant represents numerous parents in the WSR district who object to the agreement on substantive and procedural grounds. She contends (1) that the WSR district failed to comply with the Barker Guidelines for school closings, and (2) that the terms of the agreement will lead to the district's financial ruin.

The ALJ and the hearing panel found as follows: Prior State Board decisions have held that the Barker Guidelines for school closings do not apply to whole-grade sharing agreements because whole-grade sharing agreements already have statutory "due process" procedures that must be followed as outlined in Iowa Code sections 282.10 & 282.11 (1999).

The voluminous evidence presented by the parties during the appeal hearing belied Appellant's contentions that the agreement had been entered into hastily and without sufficient input from the community. The more credible evidence also showed that predictions of financial ruin are speculative at best, and may be more attributed to the WSR parents' decisions to exodus the district under Open Enrollment than to the financial terms of the agreement.

The decision of the board of directors of the Wellsburg-Steamboat Rock CSD made on January 25, 1999 to enter into a whole-grade sharing agreement with Ackley-Geneva was affirmed.