Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon isn't so sure that November is the right time to vote on a possible split of the Jordan and Granite school districts.

He's so unsure that he's asked the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office whether he could veto a move by the County Council to put the school district splits on the ballot. Corroon doesn't know if he would use the veto power, but he said he wants to know what his options are.

"It's not that I have the intent to veto it, but I certainly want to know if I can or not," Corroon said. "There are issues that need to be resolved before we vote on this.

"This is not fixing a pothole. This is something that is going to have an effect for 20 years or more, so we need to make sure when citizens vote, they have all the information they need. Right now, I still think there are some questions unanswered."

Deputy District Attorney Dahnelle Burton-Lee on Thursday confirmed that the district attorney's office is in the process of forming a legal opinion on Corroon's veto powers. "We haven't made a decision yet."

The mayor has been asking a lot of questions lately about the small school-district movement.

He already received a legal opinion from the district attorney's office about process-related questions on the issue of splitting the districts.

Corroon also asked the district attorney about "constitutional implications of the school-district creation scheme." The district attorney replied in a memo that the splits do, in fact, raise some constitutional issues.

Specifically, Corroon wants to answer the question of whether it is unconstitutional to not let everyone affected by a district split have a vote.

An attorney for the Jordan School Board has said that letting only the part of the district that would break away have a say in the matter appears to violate "one man, one vote" guarantees of the 14th Amendment. Mayors of west-side cities Riverton, Herriman, West Jordan, South Jordan and Bluffdale brought the same concern to the board earlier this spring.

Aside from legal questions, Corroon said, there are several other unknowns that need to be answered before voters can make an informed decision.

He said he wants to make sure there will still be money to build schools countywide. A bill proposal to do just that is in the works but won't be heard until January, short of a special session of the Legislature. Corroon said he's also concerned about funding for special education.

The mayor said he wants to know if smaller schools will actually mean smaller class sizes.

"I think everybody needs to have answers to make a decision. There are issues that need to be resolved," Corroon said. "I'm a great fan of local control and a fan of the citizens having the opportunity to vote, but I want them to vote with all the information."

For his part, County Council Chairman Mark Crockett said splitting up school districts isn't about smaller class sizes but local control.

"Of course, this doesn't automatically make schools better and achievement higher," Crockett said. "What it does is change decisionmaking and make it closer to home."

The County Council is expected to discuss putting questions on the ballot to split both the Granite and Jordan school districts on Tuesday, and a vote on the issues could come as early as July 31.

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com