MURRAY — Hundreds of agitated residents flooded to the courtyard of Cottonwood High School Monday night bent on saving the beloved 40-year-old high school. The school likely would be closed if a proposed split of Granite School District becomes reality.
Before two government entities vote on a split from Granite School District, east-side leaders and district officials have banded together to stop the division, which they say will hike taxes, put thousands of students' academic futures in jeopardy, close more schools, leave dozens of teachers unemployed and plunge the area into a frightening unknown.
The group Tuesday detailed why a split would hurt residents and, most important, their children.
"There are so many unintended consequences, such as closing down one of the premier high schools in the state, Cottonwood High School," said Holladay Councilman Hugo Diedrich. "There are too many questions and not enough answers. In fact, new questions surface almost every day."
Thursday, Holladay City Council is expected to give its approval to putting the district split issue on the November ballot. Diedrich most likely will be the lone dissenting vote, "I've given up on my colleagues at the Holladay City Council," he said.
If Holladay and Salt Lake County approve the proposed split from Granite School District this month, residents will vote on whether they want their own east-side district. South Salt Lake already opted-in to the vote last week.
During the Monday meeting, however, various community and school district leaders outlined the possible consequences, the major one being the likely closure of Cottonwood High School and, probably, other local schools.
Although Cottonwood High is in Granite School District, it falls within Murray City boundaries. Murray runs its own city school district and voted earlier this month that those residents residing in Granite would not take part in an east-side vote on the split. If a new district is formed, that chunk of Murray and all the buildings would be part of Murray School District.
Murray, however, does not have enough students to sustain Cottonwood High and would be forced to close the school. Tentative talk is that it would be sold, leased or used to house Murray's Hillcrest Junior High, which needs to be rebuilt.
"Is this really about what's best for kids? When I look at this, I do not see one child in Granite School District ... benefiting academically from dividing the district," said Sarah Meier, president of the Granite School Board.
Others were worried the feasibility study that says a split will work merely appeased those cities that commissioned it.
"They have a feasibility study that says it can work financially. But that's all they have," said John Haglund, a member of the Cottonwood High Community Council. "It's all speculation. There's not an official plan."
And a bill in the works to equalize school funding on a statewide level would also hurt the district and all of Salt Lake County, Granite officials say.
If that money were all put in a large pot and divvied by needs, Linda Mariotti with the district said, Salt Lake County school districts would end up paying $40.7 million into that pot, and would only receive $13.6. The rest would all go to Jordan School District, a loss of $27.1 million for the areas now in Granite District.
"In terms of equalization, this is not helpful to Granite School District, in any form," Mariotti said of the district staying together or splitting.
A petition is being circulated among Granite School District voters to reject the split proposal. It will be presented to the county council today, encouraging them to table the issue until a detailed plan is created that includes all the existing schools.
Proponents of the split in Millcreek are also working on their own petition, encouraging the county to give them a voice and let them vote on the split.
Today, Salt Lake County will meet at 4:30 p.m. for a public hearing on the split. They are expected to vote Aug. 7. The Holladay City Council will vote on the matter Thursday at 6 p.m.
E-mail: astowell@desnews.com