Appellant seeks reversal of a decision of the Board of Directors of the AEA made on January 25, 2001. Intervenors are the parents of elementary school children who reside at Regency Mobile Home Park. The artendance center for the children is McKinley Elementary School, which has an enrollment of 217 students. The 94 students reside in Regency constitute approximately 44% of the total enrollment. They are in grades kindergarten through fifth and are 5 to 11 years of age. The distance from Regency to McKinley Elementary School is approximately 1.6 miles. Gordon Drive is a major business thoroughfare in Sioux City and carries a high volume of traffic. The speed limit on Gordon Drive is 45 miles per hour. There are no signs posted along Gordon Drive at this location indicating that it is near a school zone or that children pedestrians are present.
Transportation for the students residing in Regency was provided until 1999 by the local property developer at no cost to the District or to the parents. Beginning in 1999, the District began to provide free transportation to the students who resided at Regency at its own expense because of the concerns for their safety due to the absence of a sidewalk adjacent to Gordon Plaza. A sidewalk was later constructed adjacent to Gordon Plaza. The sidewalk removed the District's concerns for the students' safety. On October 24, 2000, the parents were notified that effective November 10, 2000, the District would no longer provide free transportation. On November 13, 2000, concerned parents of the affected students addressed the Board of the District. The Board took no action to modify the administra-tion's decision and bus service to the students was discontinued beginning on November 10, 2000. On December 18, 2000, the AEA Board heard an appeal filed by Raquel Ramirez and voted to reverse the action of the District. On January 23, 2001, Ms. Ramirez's attorney, again requested that the District reverse the determination by the Superintendent to discontinue busing service and to resume transportation services to McKinley. The request was tabled pending a review by the District. On March 1, 2001, following a hearing on the issue before the District's Board, the Board voted unanimously to affirm the superinten-dent's recommendation. The parents filed an appeal to the WHAEA Board on March 9, 2001. The WHAEA Board held a hearing March 19, 2001. The WHAEA Board issued its decision on March 21, 2001. The District then appealed the AEA's decision to the Director of the Department of Education.
Iowa Code section 285.12 directs the agency boards to hear and decide appeals in a transportation disagreement between a school patron and the board of a local district. The power and duties of area boards with regard to student transportation are described in Section 285.9 which first broadly authorizes area education agency boards to "[e]nforce all laws and all rules and regulations of the Department of Education relating to transportation." Iowa Code subsection 285.9(1) (2001). When a local board fails to make necessary arrangements for transporta-tion as required by law, the Code provides that the area educa-tion agency board shall "make necessary arrangements in confor-mity with law and established requirements." Iowa Code subsec-tion 285.9(4)(2001). The Department of Education is authorized under section 285.8 of the Iowa Code to "exercise general super-vision over the school transportation system in the state." The Department's rules relating to transportation are contained in 281 Iowa Administrative Code chapter 43. The first rule under that chapter provides that bus routes within an AEA must be efficient and economical, that riding time should not exceed certain limits and that routes should be reviewed annually for safety hazards. Thus, despite the local school district's argument, the first rule of the Department addresses issues of student safety.
Chapter 285 is silent regarding the standard of review that an area education agency must use in reviewing a local board's transportation decision. The Legislature certainly could have established a limited standard of review for the Agency. It could have stated limitations regarding the subject matter of the appeals, but it did not. Instead, when there is a disagreement between a school patron and a school district, Iowa Code Section 285.12 provides that the agency board will hear it, decide it, and notify the parties of its decision.The process under Iowa Code Section 285.12 is unique and is different from appeal in virtually any other kind of disputes from school board decisions that are governed by Iowa Code Chapter 290. By creating this intermediate step of appeal at the agency level, the General Assembly must have intended that these decisions remain as close to the local level as possible. This dispute between the patrons of the Sioux City Community School District, the Sioux City Community School District, was decided by the Area Education Agency board familiar with Sioux City and its surrounding area. This preference for local expertise also obviously requires that the members of an area education agency board, all of whom are selected by the districts served by the AEA, exercises their own independent judgment and discretion. These individuals are educational policymakers to whom the General Assembly has entrusted the responsibility for directing the work of the area education agency. Since the WHAEA's work also includes the responsibilities to oversee and enforce all laws, rules and regulations relating to transportation (See, Iowa Code Section 285.9 (2001)), AEA board members must be allowed to exercise their judgment and discretion in resolving disputes between patrons and local school boards. The question before the Director of the Department of Education is whether the decision by the Western Hills Area Education Agency Board was a reasonable exercise of its authority under the law and the Iowa Administrative Code. Local boards of directors are required to make decisions that are reasonable. In re Jesse Bachman, 13 D.o.E. App. Dec. 363(1996).The record shows that the WHAEA's Board thoroughly evaluated the situation on Gordon Drive in addressing the transportation concerns of these parents and of the District.
The WHAEA Board was justified in making its own analysis of the facts in deciding to reverse the District's decision to discontinue the transportation being provided to the students residing at Regency. Although reasonable minds could differ over the judgment call that the WHAEA was called upon to make, the parents convinced the WHAEA Board that the District exercised its discretion in an unreasonable way adverse to the health and safety of the students, as required by Iowa Code section 285.10(2)(2001). The District has failed to show that the WHAEA's Board decision was unreasonable. There is no other basis on which to reverse it.
The director of the Department of Education affirmed the decision of the Western Hills AEA Board of Directors.