OREM — Orem would be the ideal testing ground for a new law that allows cities to split from school districts and form their own, the legislation's sponsor said.

"I think it would be a little cleaner (with Orem high school students attending only high schools in the city)," Rep. Dave Cox, R-Lehi said. "The ones up in Sandy and Cottonwood Heights have problems with criss-crossing high school boundaries. It makes it more problematic. It's still solvable, but that problem doesn't exist (in Orem)."

Last week, residents presented the Orem City Council 1,000 signatures requesting that the city form its own school district.

Also in recent weeks, residents in communities in the 77,000-student Jordan School District — Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, Holladay, South Salt Lake, West Jordan and West Valley City — have considered splitting from the state's largest school district.

Cox is a teacher at Sego Lily Elementary School, part of the Alpine School District, which would be affected if it one-third of its students who attend Orem schools broke off.

He said he does not have an opinion about whether Orem should form its own city district; he just wants Orem residents to have the choice.

"As a district, we support rights given to patrons through legislative action," Alpine School District spokeswoman Jerrilyn Mortensen said. "We hope patrons will study the issues carefully and have a full understanding of the impact of declining student enrollment has on school funding."

Alpine administrators are concerned that a decision made in Orem will affect others in the state's fourth largest district, which counts 54,500 students, Mortensen said. The new law requires residents only in the city to vote on splitting, as opposed to a previous laws, which required a vote among patrons throughout the entire district.

Two years ago, the Utah County Commission decided against putting on the ballot the option of creating a Pioneer School District for residents of Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.

"The problem is the way we had the legislation ... it had to go through a study and the school district could influence it a great deal," said Cox, who added he deliberately changed the legislation during the last legislative session so only residents of the city considering the split from the school district could vote on the issue.

In Orem, petition-signers have requested the city study the feasibility of having its own district. If a city school district is feasible, they want the issue placed on November's ballot.

Also on November's ballot is a $250 million bond issuance for the Alpine School District. District chiefs hope to not raise taxes by adding the new debt as it pays off current debt. But many of the bond projects will be new schools in the northern part of the district, and the Orem residents hope to save money by leaving Alpine.

The petition was presented to the Orem City Council during a public comment period May 9. It was not specifically listed as an agenda item, so the council members could not legally take any action, Orem City Council woman Karen McCandless said.

The soonest the issue could be discussed is May 23.

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E-mail: lhancock@desnews.com