Pleasant Grove rejects a vote

PLEASANT GROVE — The question over whether to create a new school district along the southern edge of the Alpine School District is dead in Pleasant Grove.

The Pleasant Grove City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night against putting the issue on the November ballot.

Also Tuesday night, the Orem City Council was considering putting the issue on the ballot. The City Council had not voted as of press deadline.

The issue remains under consideration in Lindon and Vineyard. The city councils of the two cities have yet to meet to vote on the proposal.

In the spring, the Utah Legislature passed a law specifying how school districts can divide, and about a dozen cities along the Wasatch Front are considering creating smaller districts.

The Alpine School District has 54,000 students; parents have complained about the district's math program and how administrators do not address their concerns.

Last week, two educational consultants presented feasibility studies that showed the number of students in Orem will decline. That could be offset if Vineyard students are included in the plan.

The former Geneva Steel property in Vineyard has been sold to a developer, who has proposed building houses and businesses at the site. That could boost the number of children in the city while building the city's tax base.

One of the studies determined residential property taxes will increase by about $3 a month on a $100,000 house if cities form a new district.

The $3 would be needed to pay off Alpine district bonds and for the new district to issue a small bond for an administration building and upgrades at the new district's schools.

At Tuesday's Pleasant Grove meeting, only two residents spoke in favor of the split, while more than a dozen spoke against it. Most of those opposed were teachers or retired employees of the Alpine District.

Blain Edman, principal of Pleasant Grove Junior High School, said the uncertainty over which district his students, teachers and staff belong to would create a distraction at school.

He noted that Alpine recently awarded the school a $97,000 grant for new computers and technology. Two teachers will train for two years to use the equipment. If the school becomes part of a new district, it could lose the equipment.

"If this is on the ballot, they're going to be saying, 'Are we going ahead with this? Are we not going ahead with this? Should I finish the training?'"

Teachers will prefer to stay with the Alpine District because the benefits and pay are tied to their years of service and would be more secure, he said.