Mainly, there are competing ideas on how to equalize money available to tax-poor districts. Curtis wants to combine building money from all Salt Lake County school districts — Murray, Salt Lake City, Jordan and Granite — and divvy it out by need. Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, has looked at a $100 million statewide building aid fund.

He and Curtis have been working to create a compromise bill, which could be heard in special session. The idea is to not leave the west side with a huge building bill for growth and too small a tax base to pay for it.

The Local Issues Task Force is scheduled to discuss the two proposals and draft legislation this afternoon.

The Education Interim Committee also has asked for a special session to address building equalization and whether to let Draper's SunCrest community, which sits on the Utah-Salt Lake County line, attend Alpine District schools instead of a new east-side school district, if Jordan District splits.

In a public hearing Tuesday before the Salt Lake County Council, several state lawmakers urged the council to let the Legislature fix things before allowing voters to decide whether they want smaller school districts.

"I want someone to tell me what is the overriding, compelling problem that exists that we have to vote on in November. There is no emergency," Rep. Steve Mascaro, R-West Jordan, said. "I would encourage all the mayors of this valley get together with this council and come to an agreement that we put this thing off until we have a full meeting of the Legislature."

However, former state Rep. Susan Lawrence, R-East Millcreek, said the Legislature won't be motivated to fix the school funding issue if the school district split questions are not on the ballot.

"If this vote goes away, the urgency for the equity goes away. That is how the Legislature works," Lawrence said. "They can move forward very quickly if the impetus is there."

The issue has stirred up the community, as evidenced by the more than 330 county residents who filled the Salt Lake County Council chambers for Tuesday's meeting. Women and children sat on the floors, fathers leaned against the walls and high school students stood in the doorways.

For more than three hours, the council listened to public comment on the school district splits. Several Millcreek residents said the council should let the east-side city residents determine their own future.

"Allow us to vote on this issue," said Anna Claire Shepherd, who serves on the East Millcreek Community Council. "Do not wait for the Legislature to come up with a financial equalization fix before putting this on the ballot. This can be solved in the transition process."

But the majority of people at the hearing favored putting off a vote until all the questions can be answered.

"We're going to have a lot more information in six months," said county resident Phil Conger. "It would be the height of irresponsible leadership making a decision knowing information is on short order."

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Contributing: Jennifer Toomer-Cook and Jared Page

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E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com