The County Committee was created by the California State Legislature in 1949. It functions within the rules and regulations established by the Legislature and its own policies and procedures. It responds to petitioners, school districts governing boards, and may initiate studies on its own. Its duties and responsibilities pertain to school districts - kindergarten through community college.

The activities of the County Committee are coordinated by the County Superintendent of Schools and it interacts with the State Department of Education, County Board of Education, State Board of Education, and County Board of Supervisors, and other state agencies. Expenses and activities are funded from the County School Service Fund.

The County Committee consists of eleven members - two representatives from each supervisorial district and one member serving at-large. County Committee members are elected at an annual meeting of school trustee representatives. The term for office is four years.

The County Committee studies and makes recommendations in the areas of:

• the organization and reorganization of school districts.
• the transfer of territory between and/or among school districts.
• the number of trustees and the manner by which they are elected.
  
  

Public hearings related to matters before the County Committee are held throughout the county as required by law. Special meetings may be called by the chairperson or by a majority of the County Committee members. The meetings are subject to the provisions of the Brown Act.

The County Superintendent of Schools or his designee serves as secretary to the County Committee. Agenda items are originated by or submitted to the County Committee. Official minutes of each County Committee meeting must be maintained and are available according to the rules and regulations of the Committee at the office of the County Superintendent of Schools.

The reorganization of school districts is one of the major responsibilities of the County Committee. An action to reorganize school districts can refer to any one of the following:

• transfer of territory between or among school districts
• school district unification or deunification (organizing into a K-12 range or separating a K-12 organization)
• formation of new districts of all types from territory of existing districts
• dissolution or lapsation of a school district
• annexation of all or part of one district to another district
  
  

The process for reorganizing a school district may be initiated in the following ways:

• a citizen petition submitted to the County Committee
• a request from a school district governing board to the County Committee
• a recommendation from a member of the County Committee
  
  

Each initiation method has a different procedure, prescribed by law, which may include: studies of reorganization, public hearings, and voter approval. In each instance, public action is required of the County Committee to ensure public output to the process.

Any action taken by the County Committee may be appealed to the State Board of Education.

A territory transfer of a school district is initiated by submitting a valid petition to the Marin County Committee on School District Organization. The petition may be initiated by:

 

• 25% of the registered voters in the affected area
• 10% of the registered voters in an entire school district
• A majority of the members of the governing boards of each affected district

 

After the County Committee has studied the proposal and held hearings on the matter in each affected school district (EC 35705, 35705.5), it prepares a series of findings and a notice to the Local Agency Formation Commission (EC 35700.5). If all the conditions of EC 35753 are substantially met, the county committee may approve or disapprove the petition to transfer territory within 120 days of the first public hearing (EC 35706, 35709, 35710, 35710.1).

 

If any of the following three conditions exist, the county committee may approve the territory transfer without an election:

 

• The territory is uninhabited, the majority of the owners of the territory consent to the transfer, and the governing boards of all affected school districts consent to the transfer.
• The territory is inhabited; the territory constitutes less than 10 percent of the assessed valuation of the original district from which the territory is being transferred, and the governing boards of all affected districts consent to the transfer.
• The election area for the territory transfer, as determined pursuant to EC 35732, is uninhabited territory as described in Education Code Section 35517.

 

For all other territory transfers, if the county committee approves the transfer, the county superintendent must call an election in an area determined by the county committee.

 

An action by the county committee approving a petition to transfer territory may be appealed to the State Board of Education by the chief petitioners or one or more affected school districts (EC 35710.5).

 

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On June 15, 2022 the Marin County Office of Education held an informational webinar providing an overview of the legal steps involved in a transfer of school district territory. The webinar was presented by Terena Mares, Senior Deputy Superintendent for the Marin County Office of Education & Secretary Designee for the Marin County Committee on School District Organization (CCSDO) and Jon Lenz, Assistant Superintendent for the Marin County Office of Education.

 

• Presentation Slides
• Webinar Recording

An action to unify a school district is initiated by submitting a valid petition to the County Committee. The petition may be initiated by:

• at least 25 percent of the registered voters residing in the area proposed for transfer
• 10 percent of the registered voters of a school district, in which case the County Committee must decide whether to fully consider the matter
• a majority of the members of the governing boards of each affected district
  
  

After the County Committee has studied the proposal and held hearings on the matter in each affected school district, it prepares a series of findings, a recommendation, and unification plan for submission to the State Board of Education.

The State Board of Education approves or denies the petition. If approved, the proposal goes to an election in territory selected by the State Board of Education. If the proposal passes at the election, the unification action is implemented. All school district unification proposals must go through the State Board of Education; the board cannot be passed.

Any citizen or school district that wants to register a petition to reorganize a school district must write a letter to the Secretary of the County Committee. All petitions submitted shall include a statement of what is proposed, the names of the school districts affected, the geographical area which would be affected with a map and legal description and the reason(s) for the petition. The number of signatures varies depending on the type of action proposed.

Required proposed actions with number of signatures collected are shown below:

1. Unification and formation of a new district.
   
   - 15% of the of registered electors residing in the territory proposed to be recognized. (E.C. Section 35700(a))
   
   - 10% of the registered electors residing in the territory to be reorganized (E.C. Section 35721(a))
   
   
2. Transfer of territory  between or among districts.
   
   - 25% of the registered electors residing in the territory proposed to be transferred. If the territory is uninhabited, the owner may petition.
   
   
3. Trustee areas. 
   
   - 5% or 50 (whichever is less) of the registered voters residing in a district with 2,500 or fewer registered voters; or 2% or 250 (whichever is less) in a district with 2,501 or more registered voters. These provisions do not apply in school districts governed by a board of education provided for in a city charter.
   
   

Any proposal to reorganize school districts must be considered by the County Committee for decision or recommendation. The County Committee is readily accessible through its Secretary.

Authorization for the County Committee and its actions can be found in the California Education Code Sections 4000, et. seq., and 35500 et. seq., and the California Administrative Code, Title 5.

From the Office of the Marin County Superintendent of Schools
Ms. Terena Mares, Deputy Superintendent
1111 Las Gallinas Avenue/P.O. Box 4925, San Rafael, CA 94913
Telephone (415) 499-5805