(a) When lands are required for the site of a school house, or for enlarging a school house lot, or for playgrounds or other school purposes and the Department of Education or the school board shall for any cause be unable to contract with the owner or owners thereof upon what they deem to be a fair valuation thereof, the Department and the school board, or either of them, may institute condemnation proceedings in accordance with Chapter 61 of Title 10.
(b) No lot so taken or enlarged shall exceed, in the whole, including the land occupied by the school building, more than 15 acres for a school whose certified enrollment is less than 500 pupils.
(c) No lot so taken or enlarged shall exceed, in the whole, including the land occupied by the school building, more than 25 acres for schools having a certified enrollment in excess of 500 pupils.
(d) Certified enrollment, as used in this section, means the official net enrollment at the end of any school years as determined by the Department of Education, or, in the case of a proposed new school, the normal capacity of the proposed school building as approved by the Department of Education.
(e) Any proposed action pursuant to Chapter 61 of Title 10 shall be approved by appropriate resolutions of the local board of education and by the Department of Education. The Department shall, in the usual manner, review the building and site needs of the local district before deciding whether or not to adopt a resolution indicating the need for procuring the land as provided by Chapter 61 of Title 10 and the maximum number of acres involved.