As session ends, bill removing Salt Lake County from Jordan School District split passes

Legislators in a special session today decided Salt Lake County no longer has a say on whether a movement to split Jordan School District can go on the ballot this November and postponed resolving questions about equalizing school-construction funds.

HB1002, sponsored by Rep. Karen Morgan, D-Cottonwood Heights, allows a public vote on a school district split if municipalities or counties representing 80 percent of the proposed new district give the green light. The bill passed the House, but the Senate substituted it to also give all voters the school district, not just those in the area that wants to secede, a say in a school district split. Substitute HB1002 passed by a 26-3 vote.

The effort to create a new eastern district separate from Jordan School District, the state's largest with some 80,000 students, meets the 80 percent requirement. There, all east-side municipalities have decided to put the question to voters, but Salt Lake County on Tuesday turned down the idea, angering some legislators.

After much talk, legislators decided not to take any action on equalization of school buildings. Instead, they set up a special task force that will meet "aggressively" — as one member put it — before legislators meet again in January's 2008 general session.

So at least for now, Salt Lake City and a number of other districts dodged the possibility of a property tax hike.

Legislators passed two other bills regarding school district splits.

HB1004 makes it so Murray School District wouldn't automatically take over Cottonwood High School, which is situated within Murray City, if the Granite District splits. HB1004 also would lower the minimum number of residents required in a new school district from 65,000 to 50,000, conceivably allowing more cities to go on their own if they choose.

Lawmakers also approved Substitute HB1001, which allows people living in Draper's hilltop SunCrest community, which straddles Utah and Salt Lake counties, to keep their children in Alpine schools, should the Jordan District split.

The measure also lets students slated to attend Cottonwood High remain in that school's boundary for six years if the Granite District splits. Students attending that school come from both the east-side and the west-side Taylorsville area.

The bill also makes more flexible the requirements for the feasibility study prior to a school district split, so if a proposed new school district's boundaries change after the feasibility study is finished, organizers don't necessarily have to start the process all over again.