Appellants in this appeal are residents of the Stuart-Menlo District and parents of students in the District. Appellants seek reversal of decisions of the Board of Directors of the District made on October 27, 1999 that failed to continue a whole grade sharing agreement with the Dexfield Community School District.

The two districts involved in the whole grade sharing agreement are Stuart-Menlo and Dexfield. Dexfield is a consolidation of the former Redfield and Dexter Districts. Stuart-Menlo is also a consolidation of two formerly independent districts. For the past seven years, Dexfield and Stuart-Menlo have shared their high - 2 ?schools and middle schools. The Dexfield District is located to the north and east of Stuart-Menlo. Under the agreement, they refer to themselves as the "West Central School District."

Appellants want to preserve the current whole grade sharing arrangement between the Stuart-Menlo and the Dexfield Community School Districts because it allows the high school to offer 68 to 70 courses; it allows the high school to offer block scheduling, which means that the students are in each class for longer periods of time; it allows the high school students to be in a separate building from the middle school students; and it allows the middle school students to have an age-appropriate curriculum.

We find that the Stuart-Menlo Board's decision not to enter into a two-way whole grade sharing agreement with financial modifications was not unreasonable due to the significant financial concerns presented at that time to the Board and due to the evidence that Stuart-Menlo can meet accreditation standards for its own high school. Because the Stuart-Menlo Board's decision meets the reasonableness test, we are upholding the Stuart-Menlo District Board's decision, but we are doing it with significant concerns and reservations about the fact that the District on its own will have fewer than 200 high school students in a declining enrollment environment.

Although the State Board is sympathetic to Appellants' desire for the West Central District to remain intact, it cannot provide the remedy Appellants seek. The preponderance of the evidence does not support Appellants' contention that the Stuart-Menlo Board's action was both unreasonable and contrary to the best interest of education. The fact that reasonable minds may differ about the wisdom or merits of the Stuart-Menlo Board's decision does not render it unreasonable for the purposes of this appeal. For these reasons, it must be affirmed, with significant reservations on the part of the State Board of Education due to the declining enrollment of Stuart-Menlo's 200-student high school and due to the reduction in educational opportunities for the students. Because of these reservations and in the best interests of the students, the State Board strongly recommends that the Stuart-Menlo Board agree to accept the Dexfield High School students under the provisions of a 28E agreement.

That the Stuart-Menlo Community School District Board of Director's decision, made on October 27, 1999, be affirmed.