In both districts, the east side tends to be long settled, while construction of new homes continues at high rates toward the west, and districts are struggling to keep up.

Portable classrooms are a cheaper way to address growth than adding onto schools. Granite District learned this after brick and mortar add-ons to east-side schools went empty as neighborhoods aged, former longtime Granite Board of Education member Lynn Davidson said.

"People look at them as, 'They're bringing a bunch of trailers to our campuses ... and the east side doesn't have any trailers,"' said Davidson, a former east-side board representative and, before that, district real estate consultant. "My perception is, that's because the east-side expansion came first."

Jordan used year-round scheduling and put sixth-graders into middle schools and ninth-graders into high school instead of adding to buildings in past growth times, Jordan Superintendent Barry Newbold said. But it also built a bunch of schools in the same east-side area — five elementaries within a 1.5 mile radius. The Board of Education closed two in 2005.

East-side schools are older than on the growing west side. So upgrading them may be difficult while building all the new schools that the growing west side will need.

Jordan: Busted;

Granite: Mostly confirmed.

East-side schools indeed are older in both districts, so the myth may appear true at first glance. But differences disappear in Jordan (and are diminished in Granite) when one looks at the dates of the most recent major renovations or remodelings of schools.

The average time since construction or major renovation of a school in Jordan is 7.8 years on the east side and 7.0 on the west, or less than a year. In Granite, it is 7.6 years on the east and 4.4 years on the west side — a difference of 3.2 years.

For the record, the average overall age of schools in Granite is 42.9 years on the east side and 34.8 years on the west. In Jordan, it is 37 years old on the east side and 18 on the west.

"Most new school construction is believed to be in the west, and that's true, because that's where the growth is. But look at where the majority of remodeling and renovation is occurring," Newbold said of the Jordan District.

"I don't know if (people) have short memories or what. There are new schools that have been constructed (on the east) and schools that have undergone major remodeling and renovation. Now, there are always unmet needs; I think that's been a major challenge," he said.