Wendover Utah/Nevada, a town with a split personality, is facing major education problems over the next few years.
Tooele School District Superintendent Michael G. Jacobsen, who is responsible for education on the Utah side of the line, went to the Utah Legislature Wednesday to forewarn lawmakers that he may need extra money to resolve problems originating on the Nevada side.He told the Legislature's Education Committee that the costs could range from about $200,000 to $500,000 depending on how education responsibilities ultimately are divided, he said.
All of Wendover's children used to go to Utah schools. Since the late 1970s, the two states have split the responsibility, with Nevada providing schooling for elementary-age children and Utah hosting Nevada's secondary level students in a local high school.
The current agreement, due to expire after the 1994-95 school year, is falling apart, Jacobsen said, because parents on the Nevada side now want their own high school. There is a perception that because Nevada spends more on education, children would receive a better education in a school financed by that state, he said.
If the Elko County School District opts for a high school, Utah would be left with a smaller number of high school students. Wendover, a community of about 5,000, would have two high schools almost within a stone's throw of each other.
Significant differences in per-child spending from one state to the other are at the root of the Tooele District's dilemma, Jacob-sen said. Utah has been subsidizing the costs of elementary school children who cross the boundary line to go to the Nevada school because that state spends more.
"I think this situation is probably unique in the United States - a town with different economies on opposite sides of a state line," he said. Nevada's gambling generates tourism and a thriving economy, while on the Utah side, Wendover is in decline. The Nevada-side population is about twice as large as that on the Utah side.
Two high schools in the small community, one with about 250 students and one with 120, are not feasible, said Larry Herron, executive officer for the Stateline/Silversmith casinos. A high school on the Nevada side would probably precipitate a further shift of the population to that side, exacerbating Tooele District's educational challenge. Social problems also would be likely if two schools in the same town were competing with each other, he said.
Jacobsen said the differences in teacher compensation between the two states - now about $8,600 in favor of the Nevadans - would almost certainly cause Utah teachers to jump ship and cross the line westward.