Grandview to close?

PROVO — Provo residents with sentimental feelings toward Grandview Elementary School face a dilemma.

Any vote on June 27 for a proposed $35 million bond issuance for school construction and renovation projects in Provo schools may turn out to be a vote to permanently shut down the school.

On one hand, money from a voter-approved bond issuance would bring needed improvements to Dixon Middle School and Provo High School, the other schools Grandview students attend.

But if the bond proposal is successful, then Provo school bosses will go ahead with plans to build an elementary school in the Lakeview neighborhood for about 500 students.

Yet a new school in west Provo, in addition to Westridge Elementary, would make it difficult to justify keeping Grandview open — unless there is significant growth in northwest Provo, says Provo District Superintendent Randy Merrill.

Grandview, built in 1949, is older than Westridge — a major reason it is more vulnerable for closure.

"It's nothing against Grandview," Merrill said.

No decision on school closures will be made until 2008, a year before construction on the Lakeview school would finish — but that's only if voters who live within Provo's boundaries vote to increase taxes to pay for the school projects.

By that time, Merrill expects the city to finish a planning blueprint for the northwest part of town. The city's zoning for the area will indicate the future population and help the district with its decision about Grandview.

Provo Board of Education Vice President Sandy Packard protested Merrill's time line — which she said was too long — by voting against putting a $1.5 million leeway proposal on the June ballot in addition to the bond proposal.

If the bond and leeway are both approved by a majority of voters, property taxes on a $100,000 house would increase $65 over a three-year period.

In the end, Packard's vote lost to other school board members, who all voted to put the leeway proposal on the ballot.

Packard wanted a decision about Grandview's future made before voters were asked to cast ballots for the bond and leeway proposals.

A decision, she said, would help residents decide how to vote and prevent them from feeling betrayed if the district later decides to close a school.