On or before September 15, 2007, and on or before August 1 of each odd-numbered year following the official designation of any new city of the metropolitan class or any valid request to form a new learning community, the Commissioner of Education shall certify the establishment of a new learning community with the effective date of the first Thursday after the first Tuesday in January of the next odd-numbered year following such certification to the county clerks, election commissioners, and county assessors of the counties with territory in the new learning community, to the Property Tax Administrator, to the State Department of Education, and to the school boards of the member school districts of the new learning community. A learning community shall be established for each city of the metropolitan class and shall include all school districts for which the principal office of the school district is located in the county where the city of the metropolitan class is located and all school districts for which the principal office of the school district is located in a county that has a contiguous border of at least five miles in the aggregate with such city of the metropolitan class. A learning community may also be established at the request of at least three school boards if (1) all school districts for which the principal office of the school district is located in one or more specified counties are participating in the request and either (a) such school districts are all sparse or very sparse as determined pursuant to the Tax Equity and Educational Opportunities Support Act or (b) have a minimum combined total of at least two thousand students or (2) the school districts participating in the request have a minimum combined total of at least ten thousand students. Such requests shall be received by the Commissioner of Education on or before May 1 of each odd-numbered year.