Small-district school bill OK'd

With votes reflecting east versus west, the Utah House Wednesday passed a bill allowing the east side of Salt Lake County to split from the west and potentially create two new school districts.

SB30, which passed the Senate last week, now awaits the governor's signature for cities to have the tools to create a school district.

"If it comes to a vote of another district, without these provisions, you are going to see an absolute train wreck," said Rep. Stephen Sandstrom, R-Orem.

The former Orem city councilman was part of the first city council in the state to reject a request by parents to fund a study into splitting from Alpine School District last year.

"The reason I voted not to put it on the ballot at that time was because of some huge holes in legislation that had been previously passed," Sandstrom said of a bare-bones law passed during the end of the 2006 legislative session. "However, if a split happens, there needs to be a mechanism like this."

Various cities throughout the state have expressed disappointment with the large school districts they are a part of. The most vocal have been east-side cities in Salt Lake County, where constituents live in Jordan or Granite school districts, some of the largest in the country.

After last year's legislation allowed for cities to ditch their district, several east-side cities studied the idea. Under law, cities must first do a feasibility study before constituents can vote on the issue in November of this year.

South Salt Lake, Holladay and Salt Lake County have already entered into a feasibility-study agreement to examine the impact of a new district. Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Sandy, Alta, Midvale and Salt Lake County have also approved their own study.

Representatives on the valley's west side, however, were not pleased at the bill's passing, citing west-siders' inability to vote on the issue and high costs as their biggest concerns. The bill passed on a 45-21-9 vote. -->

"The entire valley participated in the cost of new schools for the entire valley," said Rep. Steven Mascaro, R-West Jordan. "And now ... has pledged to lawmakers in both the House and Senate that she will again study the unanswered questions in the interim session.