2 building equalization bills OK'd by ed task force

You could end up paying more taxes, in the neighborhood of $100 more, in 12 school districts, or less, including a $400 tax cut in Tooele, to help school districts with a lot of kids and not much tax base to build enough schools.

The Education Interim Committee and Local Issues Task Force, in a joint meeting Tuesday, voted to embrace two building equalization bills, one on a statewide level and another on a smaller scale affecting Salt Lake County school districts.

Lawmakers hope those bills, brought forth because of anticipated problems in splitting Granite and Jordan school districts, can be debated in a special legislative session.

Indeed, they are two separate bills, Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble acknowledges. But the Provo Republican also says they're different versions of the same concept and represent general consensus on how legislators want to move forward.

That, he says, is more than likely to inspire Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. to call a special session of the Legislature, which the committee, task force and Salt Lake County Council want.

"It's my understanding that if (the education committee and task force) have a majority recommendation, that there's going to be a high probability there's going to be a special session," Bramble said.

The matter comes down to an effort to split the Jordan and Granite school districts along the Jordan River, essentially creating two new east-side districts.

But doing so would leave the west side with a ton of enrollment growth and not much money to pay for new buildings.

But supporters don't want that to become the issue in the school district split, which they seek for education reform and improved voice and governance.

Enter "building equalization" and what some legislators call a golden opportunity to move on an issue that should have been addressed years ago.

Right now, if you live in an area with thriving businesses and expensive houses, your school district probably has more money to build schools. A bedroom community, on the other hand, would have to raise taxes by a whole lot more than a wealthier district to generate enough money to pay for buildings. Add enrollment growth to the mix, and money gets real tight.

Some say that's not fair. The state provides around $80 million for building aid to tax-poor districts, but that's a drop in the bucket and not available to all.

The two proposals would change that.

Both state and county equalization options are tax shifts, and theoretically, revenue neutral. One just would do it for first class counties — Salt Lake is the only one — and the other, statewide.