"I will tell you that for me personally, it came down to what does this Granite District and the students of Granite District have to win if I vote no, what do they have to lose if I vote no, and what do they have to win if I vote yes, and what do they have to lose if I vote yes. It wound up that yes was the better thing," Meier said.

It did enter her mind that the district could lose the east side if the board voted no. "(Subconsciously), that was on my check-off list," Meier said. "But sort of way down the list for me."

Still, neither Pace nor Anderson view the vote — and another to approve an RDA to build a Market Station mixed-use project in South Salt Lake — as politically motivated.

"I would hope that Granite School Board's vote is a reflection of what they thought was good for the entire Granite District, and this was a worthwhile investment that would benefit the entire district," Pace said.

Besides, Anderson said, an RDA vote would not be enough incentive to prevent a district split movement.

"It's not about the money necessarily," he said. "It's about having greater control over what's happening in our neighborhood schools," or a different way to deliver education altogether.

Regardless of the reason for the vote, Meier hopes it shows the board is listening to residents. The vast majority of correspondence she received from the public urged the board to approve the RDA.

"I'm hoping this would indicate we do listen," Meier said. "But by the same token ... I just hope the people of Holladay realize, by the same deliberations I weighed all the information I could gather and made the decision they liked, I also did the same thing I did several years ago when I voted to close schools ... a decision they didn't necessarily care for."

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E-mail: jtcook@desnews.com