Iowa Code

Iowa Code § 278.1 (2026)

Enumeration — extended time contracts

✓ current as of July 2026

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1. The voters at the regular election shall have power to:

a. Direct a change of textbooks regularly adopted.

b. Except when restricted by section 297.24 or 297.25, direct the sale, lease, or other disposition of any schoolhouse or school site or other property belonging to the corporation, and the application to be made of the proceeds thereof. However, this section shall not be construed to prevent the sale, lease, exchange, gift, or grant and acceptance of any interest in real or other property of the corporation to the extent authorized in section 297.22 or 297.24.

c. Determine upon additional branches that shall be taught.

d. Instruct the board that school buildings may or may not be used for meetings of public interest.

e. Direct the transfer of any surplus in the debt service fund, physical plant and equipment levy fund or other capital project funds, or public education and recreation levy fund to the general fund.

f. Authorize the board to obtain, at the expense of the corporation, roads for proper access to its schoolhouses.

g. Authorize a change to either five or seven directors. The proposition for the change shall specify the number of directors to be elected, and which of the methods of election authorized by section 275.12, subsection 2, is to be used if the change is approved by the voters.

h. Authorize a change in the method of conducting elections or in the number of directors as provided in sections 275.35 and 275.36. If a proposition submitted to the voters under this paragraph or paragraph “g” is rejected, it may not be resubmitted to the voters of the district in substantially the same form within the next three years; if it is approved, no other proposal may be submitted to the voters of the district under this paragraph or paragraph “g” within the next six years. The establishment or abandonment of director districts or a change in the boundaries of director districts shall be implemented as prescribed in section 275.37.

i. Change the name of the school district, without affecting its corporate existence, rights, or obligations, and subject to the requirements of section 274.6.

2. a. The board may, with approval of sixty percent of the voters voting in an election in the school district, make extended time contracts not to exceed twenty years in duration for rental of buildings to supplement existing schoolhouse facilities; and where it is deemed advisable for buildings to be constructed or placed on real estate owned by the school district, these contracts may include lease-purchase option agreements, the amounts to be paid out of the physical plant and equipment levy fund. The election shall be held on a date specified in section 39.2, subsection 4, paragraph “c”.

b. Subject to paragraph “c”, before entering into a rental or lease-purchase option contract, authorized by the electors, the board shall first adopt plans and specifications for a building or buildings which it considers suitable for the intended use and also adopt a form of rental or lease-purchase option contract. The board shall then invite bids thereon, by advertisement published once each week for two consecutive weeks, in a newspaper published in the county in which the building or buildings are to be located, and the rental or lease-purchase option contract shall be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder, but the board may reject any and all bids and advertise for new bids.

c. A contract for construction by a private party of property to be lease-purchased by a public school corporation is a contract for a public improvement as defined in section 26.2. If the estimated cost of the property to be lease-purchased that is renovated, repaired, or\n\nTue Dec 09 22:17:52 2025 Iowa Code 2026, Chapter 278 (21, 0) §278.1, POWERS OF ELECTORS 2\n\ninvolves new construction exceeds the competitive bid threshold in section 26.3, the board shall comply with the competitive bidding requirements of section 26.3. [C51, §1115; R60, §2028, 2033; C73, §1717, 1807; C97, §2749; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §4217; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §278.1] 89 Acts, ch 135, §71, 72; 94 Acts, ch 1029, §16, 17; 97 Acts, ch 170, §85; 2002 Acts, ch 1134, §90, 115; 2008 Acts, ch 1115, §46, 71; 2008 Acts, ch 1148, §1; 2009 Acts, ch 10, §1, 4; 2013 Acts, ch 88, §15; 2018 Acts, ch 1075, §7, 8, 12, 13; 2018 Acts, ch 1172, §71, 72; 2024 Acts, ch 1168, §3 Referred to in §275.23A, 278.2, 278.3, 297.25, 298A.9, 298A.10 \n

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 11 cases, 1947–2019 · leading case: Chappell v. Bd. of Directors, 39 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 1949).

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Chappell v. Bd. of Directors, 39 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 1949). · cites it 28× “” Section 278.1 provides in part: “Enumeration.”

Unification Church v. Clay Cent. Sch. Dist., 253 N.W.2d 579 (Iowa 1977). · cites it 3× “Section 278.1,1954 Code. See also Independent Sch.”

Indep. Sch. Dist. of Ionia v. DeWilde, 53 N.W.2d 256 (Iowa 1952). · cites it 4× “Section 278.1, Sub. par. 2, I.C.A. of said chapter provides that the voters at a regular election shall have the power to "* * * direct the sale, lease, or other disposition of any schoolhouse or site or other property belonging to the corporation" and the application to be made…”

City of Cedar Falls v. Flett, 330 N.W.2d 251 (Iowa 1983). “Criminal Law § 278.1 (1961). Although defendant’s possession of the vehicles was a single act, the possession of each vehicle is a separate offense because each vehicle has individual defects that require separate evidence to prove each is defective within the ordinance.”

Heather Young, Del Holland, & Blake Hendrickson v. The Iowa City Cmty. Sch. Dist., Chris Lynch, LaTasha DeLoach, Brian Kirschling, & Paul Roesler (Iowa 2019). · cites it 54× “1148, §§ 1–2 (codififed at Iowa Code § 278.1 (1)(b) and § 297.22 (2009)).”

Davies v. Monona Cnty. Bd. of Educ., 135 N.W.2d 663 (Iowa 1965). · cites it 2× “boundaries of which have been changed under this section, complete in all respects, except for the passage of time prior to the effective date of the change and when all right of appeal of the change has expired, may enter into joint contracts for the construction of buildings…”

Porter v. Iowa State Bd. of Pub. Instruction, 144 N.W.2d 920 (Iowa 1966). · cites it 2× “313, now the last three paragraphs of section 278.1, Code, 1966. It provides a school board, with approval of 60 percent of the voters, may make time contracts not exceeding 20 years for rental of buildings to supplement existing schoolhouse facilities including lease-purchase…”

Maxwell v. Custer, 30 N.W.2d 177 (Iowa 1947). · cites it 8× “” Plaintiffs insist that the only reason for closing the school was the lack of sufficient attendance, and that no valid deed to the property could be executed except upon the direction of the electors in the school district, as provided in section 278.1 of chapter’278 of the…”

Cray v. Howard-Winneshiek Cmty. Sch. Dist., 150 N.W.2d 84 (Iowa 1967). · cites it 4× “This appeal presents the question whether, prior to the effective date of chapter 242, Laws of the Sixty-first General Assembly (1965), now the last three paragraphs of section 278.1, Code 1966, a community school district had statutory power to enter into a lease as lessee of a…”

Hare v. Bd. of Directors of Boyer Sch. Twp., 85 N.W.2d 540 (Iowa 1957). · cites it 2× “1 the defendant Board had power to “fix the site” for each schoolhouse; that the removal of the schoolhouse from subdistrict 6 to subdistrict 8 did not constitute a “sale, lease, or other disposition” requiring, under Code section 278.1.(2), a vote of the electors; also that…”

Hare v. Bd. of Directors, Etc., 85 N.W.2d 540 (Iowa 1957). · cites it 2× “1 the defendant Board had power to "fix the site" for each schoolhouse; that the removal of the schoolhouse from subdistrict 6 to subdistrict 8 did not constitute a "sale, lease, or other disposition" requiring, under code section 278.1, subd. 2, a vote of the electors; also…”

— Iowa Code § 278.1(1)(b) — 1 case

Heather Young, Del Holland, & Blake Hendrickson v. The Iowa City Cmty. Sch. Dist., Chris Lynch, LaTasha DeLoach, Brian Kirschling, & Paul Roesler (Iowa 2019). “1148, §§ 1–2 (codififed at Iowa Code § 278.1 (1)(b) and § 297.22 (2009)).”

— Iowa Code § 278.1(2) — 1 case

Maxwell v. Custer, 30 N.W.2d 177 (Iowa 1947). “” Plaintiffs insist that the only reason for closing the school was the lack of sufficient attendance, and that no valid deed to the property could be executed except upon the direction of the electors in the school district, as provided in section 278.1 of chapter’278 of the…”

— Iowa Code § 278.1(7) — 1 case

Chappell v. Bd. of Directors, 39 N.W.2d 628 (Iowa 1949). “” Section 278.1 provides in part: “Enumeration.”

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