Decision Allowing Request for Property Annexation into Different School District is Struck Down

Homeowners of property located in Jasper County (Petitioners) filed a petition with the Regional Board of School Trustees requesting that their property be detached from Jasper County School District (District 1) and annexed to Dieterich Community School District in Effingham County (District 30) through a proposed chain of linked properties. Their property was located approximately 1.5 miles from the boundary of District 30. Neighbors of the Petitioners located between the Petitioners' property and the District 30 boundary joined the petition, asking that 10-foot-wide strips of their properties be included to create a chain of linked properties for the detachment/annexation petition. With the proposed chain of linked properties, the petition alleged that the territory to be detached and annexed would be "compact and contiguous" to District 30.

District 1 argued against the petition arguing that the petition did not comply with section 7-4 of the School Code because the detachment, if granted, would result in territory that was not "compact and contiguous" as required by the Illinois Constitution and the School Code. After multiple hearings and reviews at the Regional Board level and the circuit court level, on appeal to the Illinois Appellate Court (Court), the Court reviewed at length the entire record and determined that the Regional Board erred in granting the petition. The Court focused on the petitioners’ failure to make the threshold argument of how the proposed detachment and annexation would result in "compact and contiguous" districts as required by Illinois case law and statutes as well as the Illinois Constitution. The Court held that the petition should not have been granted, and it reversed the Regional Board's order and the circuit court's decision upholding the Regional Board's order. 

A copy of the decision can be found here.