(a) Whenever a petition is presented to the governing board of a school district, signed by at least 15 qualified electors of that school district, asking that the name of the district be changed and stating the new name requested, the governing board shall designate a day upon which it will act upon the petition, which shall not be less than 10 days nor more than 40 days after the receipt of the petition.

The governing board shall give or cause to be given notice to all parties interested by publication in a newspaper published within the school district, or, if there is none, in any newspaper published in the county, of the time set for the hearing of the petition. The notice shall be published at least twice before the day set for hearing. At the hearing the board shall by resolution either grant or deny the petition, and, if granted, shall notify the county superintendent of schools of the change of the name of the district. The board shall also certify the name change to the county elections official of each county in which any part of the school district is situated. The name change shall also be entered in the records of the governing board.

(b) As an alternative to the procedures set forth in subdivision (a), a petition may be presented to the superintendent of schools having jurisdiction of any high school district signed by at least two-thirds of the members of the governing board of the high school district asking that the name of the district be changed and stating the new name desired. The procedure shall thereafter be the same as is provided for electors’ petitions in subdivision (a).

(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 221, Sec. 13. Effective January 1, 2003.)