Comments about ‘Jordan District split fans flames of east/west bias’

I have kids in both districts. Frankly, I have seen the data from all sides and granted, there is a disparity it is not as wide as people make it out to be. Most of Jordan's problems from what I have seen first hand and experienced come from mis-management on the same ticket, Canyons has yet to fully impress me.

What is sad to me, is all of the fine teachers and students in Jordan are getting hurt...NOT because of the split, but because of management.

In my opinion a lot of this flap is a negative response to change and something new.

This being said.. It will do none of us any good to let Jordan suffer, poor management or not. We, all of us, need to work together in this regard.. not apart. This means East/West.. LDS/Non-LDS.. Conservatives/Liberals.. This is one heck of a great state. Lets make sure we show the rest of the country that.

I found it very curious how our legislators thought it would be fair to allow one group of people to vote on anything with the results of that vote affecting non-voting people. And a court of appeals found that to be fair. WOW. Well, right or wrong, we are now stuck with the stupidity of how this situation came up. As for me now, I will support merchants on the west side when at all possible. I will say "farewell to thee" east side as I will go literally the extra mile to shop on the west side. With the vote on the east side that showed the bond just barely passing to repair and to build schools, I think Canyons school district is going to have some people who are still upset and may look to break away again. Just remember, be careful what you wish for, you may just get it.

As a resident of cottonwood heights I don't have a bias against any part of the valley. I do however want local control over education decisions especially where so much tax money is spent on education. Thus I think this article is wrong because it makes it sound as if the split occurred because of a bias against the west side when it really was a bias against the way Jordan was running the district.

Jordan SD just needs to finally realize you can't pay your superintendent $237,000 anymore. You actually have to spend the money on teachers and students.

You could probably also cut half the district office staff and no one would notice a difference in quality of education.

I grew up in Cottonwood Heights. I worked in Midvale for 15 years. I've worked in West Valley City for 16 years. I've lived in West Jordan for 25 years. The east/west divide is alive and well and has become much worse since the Jordan split. This divide is one more of perception than anything else. East siders view the west side as lazy, welfare-prone criminals while west siders view the east side as arrogant, spoiled, lazy (but rich) spoiled brats who all live on Daddy's fortune. Neither side is correct. However, perceptions become beliefs and fuel are actions. Isn't it strange that the school district split happened along the very lines that Mayor Cullimore says don't exist? It was not just about money (although I agree with Mr. Bangerter that money played a key role), but also about power. Jordan wouldn't kowtow to the east side, preferring to look at the district as a whole. Heads needed to roll.

I think it would be grand if the Deseret News added an edit feature. In my previous post, please delete one of the "spoiled" words and change "are" to "our." Didn't proofread before I submitted. Sorry.

While I understand the local prejudices, too many California school districts have suffered from similar funding problems. School districts function better, respond to local/parental/student needs and desires when they are smaller.
Canyons School district suffers from a lack of planning. At least one high School has 5000 students...twice the optimal size. My own grandaughter, a kindergartner, was bussed from Draper to Sandy because there is no local elementary school. What kind of planning is that? Now local parents can decide what their needs are...both in Jordan and Canyons districts.

Better article than most on this subject, but most of the east/west fervor is flamed by the media and articles such as this.

One glaring factual error in the article is in the confusion of assessed valuation and tax rates. They are not the same as implied in the article. Assessed value is the total value of a home or business property. The Jordan district CAN NOT change that value -- it is assigned by the County Assessor. Total assessed values are now about equal - so if tax rates were the same, funds collected would be the same. However, the rates are no longer the same due to a number of factors - including Jordan's choice to raise their tax rate above the certified rate given by the county (that keeps gross $$ collected stable as assessed values change with the market).

This split was one of the biggest mistakes in Utah History. The politicians who supported this split did not believe in fair play or democracy. This whole mess has cost millions and has only hurt kids and teachers. The Legislators and Mayors who supported this immoral split all said that our taxes would go down? Not true. The Canyons has the highest paid administrators in the state. They have more District Office Administrators than Granite School District. The Canyons has 35,000 less students. We should be consolidating Districts and not splitting them apart. This split was based on class. The East Side did not want their precious tax monies going to the unwashed rabble west of State Street. Shame on all you Republican Leaders who pushed this mess.

Thank you Munk. I couldn't have said it any better.

The Canyons/Jordan split was done by east side politicians getting GOP support to pass a law that 1. allowed the split and then 2. didn't allow everyone affected to vote on it. In otherwords, it never would have happened if all of the citizens affected, both those in the new district and those left in the old, would have been allowed to vote.

The sad fact of the split is that is has cost the state more money and has not improved the education of students in either district. But I don't believe the politicians that originally put the split in motion really cared about either the cost or educational value of what they did.

So while I believe we also live in a pretty great state, I also believe that there are politicians that really do believe that East/West, LDS/Non-LDS, and Conservative/Liberal are good. If Utahans really believe it's time to get rid of incombant politicians, I'd say it's time to get rid of the party as well as the politicians.

The amount of taxable property may be nearly even, but the number of students in each district is not.

I hate to see this happening, but I have three words for everyone--Cottonwood High School--a beautiful campus built east which should have been build west--as a young mother in West Valley--I saw kids bused west to east to fill empty schools--one of our children was bused to Skyline because of overcrowding at Granger--I think Churchill is still having students bused in to fill that large school. Let's not forget the South High School closure--another beautiful building closed and all the money spent to rebuild East High. I'm now a grandmother--my kids are grown, but my grandchildren will be impacted by this--Yes the east/west thing does continue-I'm in Mississippi now, but I wonder if this whole mess came around because the people in Draper wanted a high school. I think Utahns are the only people in America that would ask a person my age where I went to high school after finding out I lived in Utah for many years. They always seemed shocked when I say Texas--they can't process my social standing at that point. Sorry to be so negative, but really people!!!

This split was a huge mistake. The politicians who supported this mess should all be thrown out. Several already have. One party government does not work in Utah, China, or Russia.

I grew up on the West side and was never really aware of any East-West bias. Going to the East side meant having to cross a lot of traffic and all the businesses that blur the line between the two before even reaching a house. It wasn't till the people pushing for the split came forward that I had even heard of one. They managed to take all the business that separated the two sides of the valley and set up a bloated administration just like the one they proclaimed to loathe.

Money and power are the two most important issues at work here. All these administrators on both sides are paid too much and neither District despite the smaller is better mantra is responsive to its communities.

So why did I get an assessment for the Canyons District on my property taxes when I live in Murray?

I'm our genius legislators made ALOT of deals to get that to happen.

Events of the past are going to catch up with public education. Last budget year the state ended with a gaping hole of more than 100 million. That has to be made up this budget year though it seems no one talks about what they are going to do about it because it is an election year. There are some rainy day funds left after half were tied into this year's budget. however, I suspect they won't use rainy day funds to plug the hole.

Stephenson told Charter Schools last year that these were the fat years and to prepare for the lean. We made huge sacrifices, shed staff, rolled back expenses and got our school in order. Come January the real cuts and tax raises will begin. I am anticipating a mid-year cut of 10-20% when legislators meet and at least that much of a cut going forward.

I feel sorry for both CSD and JSD with the financial storm brewing on the horizon. They will have to make further sacrifices. It is going to get much worse for the next two school years before it may get better.

Get over it "West Siders".

I have no dog in this fight, other than paying a lot of school taxes. I prefer parochial schools. It appeared to me, that the westside was getting the bulk of the tax money in funding of new schools while the schools on the bench were being neglected in even om maintenance and safety and being closed, making it a access and transportation problem for many students. Let the two new district go their own way. People prefer local control and are more willing to put up the money. With no children in the public system, I stll voted for the $250,000 school bond for Canyons.

Oops! Left off 3 zeros. It was a $250 million bond.