"Are we feeling that in six years there would be enough students so they wouldn't' have to close Cottonwood High School?" asked Rep. Lou Shurtleff, D-Ogden.

The proposal also brought up sour memories for Rep. Kory Holdaway, R-Taylorsville, a Cottonwood High alumnus.

"We were bused (from the west side) because of a need to fill that school ... It wasn't' a choice," he said. "Because we have a small school district movement for whatever reason ... now we've got a problem with Cottonwood High School.

"I'm scratching my head here, thinking, why are we having to put into code (language) to solve this issue?"

But Walker said it's not an enrollment issue.

"This hopefully will help soften the impact not only on the Cottonwood High School students but other students caught in the fallout of these divisions," Walker said.

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Contributing: Leigh Dethman

E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com