School construction may be equalized

Legislation is in the works that would equalize the burden of school construction on a countywide level.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, and Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, are pushing the bill, which is also being discussed in a legislative task force, which met Thursday to look at some of the issues.

The bill could solve the school-construction demands caused by massive growth on the west side of Salt Lake County, especially as the east side studies splitting from Jordan and Granite school districts. Curtis presented the idea Friday at a Utah Taxpayers Association conference.

Where capital outlay funds generated in Salt Lake and Murray districts would go is not yet known. The districts are not growing and do not currently have construction needs.

The bill would equalize costs and expenditures across the county, so the tax-assessable value per student would be the same and the amount of school-related property taxes residents pay would be the same.

That means the four districts in Salt Lake County — Jordan, Granite, Salt Lake and Murray — would have all their funds for school construction and renovation go into one pot. The money would then be allocated based on the areas with the most pressing growth needs.

The bill could dictate that Salt Lake and Murray residents' cut of property taxes would be used for west-side schools outside their districts.

"We've made a policy decision that it's good to tax county-wide for Zoo, Arts and Parks (ZAP) tax, transit. We make a lot of decisions that it's good to tax countywide," Curtis said. "We need to equalize school building countywide."

Funding shouldn't be such that if someone lives outside the Jordan School District, they don't pay for a new school in Herriman, Curtis said.

"So what I'm looking at is an equalization of the capital outlay fund," he said.

The bill would have the most impact in Salt Lake County. Twenty-two of Utah's 29 counties have county-specific districts.

Two studies were recently completed showing an east-side flight of students from Salt Lake County's Jordan and Granite school districts would force the west side to raise property taxes to manage the growth rate and new school construction. On top of that, a split would mean less money per pupil on the west side.

South Salt Lake, Holladay and Salt Lake County did a study on splitting from Granite. Alta, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Midvale, Sandy and Salt Lake County did their own study on splitting from Jordan.

While Curtis and Stephenson — two prominent Republicans in the Legislature — are pushing the bill, neither Murray nor Salt Lake City has Republican representatives in the Legislature.