Legislators in a special session Wednesday decided Salt Lake County no longer has a say in whether a proposal to split the Jordan School District can go on the ballot this November, but west-side leaders believe they can halt the split — through a lawsuit.
A coalition of west-side cities and private individuals plans on filing a lawsuit to demand a right to vote on the Jordan split, Riverton Mayor Bill Applegarth said.
"We have a moral obligation to take this to the courts," Applegarth said. "After this day's activities, seeing things go back and forth and all of that, I honestly feel that when you are taking away the right to vote, you are threatening freedom. And you have to defend freedom in the courts like you would on the battlefield."
Applegarth said the Riverton City Council is scheduled to vote Tuesday on whether to join a lawsuit demanding a right to vote on the issue.
Lawmakers on Wednesday postponed resolving questions about equalizing school-construction funds, which also had been a concern for west-siders. The west-side residents are worried that a split would diminish their available funding for building new schools.
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. The Senate offered a substitute bill to also give all voters in the school district, not just those in the area that wants to secede, a say in a school district split. But recognizing the House earlier had rejected such an amendment, the Senate pulled the language and then passed the original House bill, with the 80 percent requirement.
That requirement has been fulfilled in the effort to create a new eastern district separate from Jordan School District, the state's largest, with some 80,000 students. 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.
The county represents just 4 percent of the people who would be in the proposed new district, Morgan said. A body representing such a small group should not be able to hijack the election, she said.
The legislation does not impact a possible split of Granite School District, because the county represents more than half of the proposed new district.
County leaders on Wednesday called the bill a "reasonable compromise" and weren't upset that the Legislature stole the county's trump card on the Jordan split issue.
"It makes sense," Salt Lake County councilman Jeff Allen said. "It would have been the only initiative that would require a unanimous vote of all potential participants. Nothing requires that, that I'm aware of. Eighty percent is more than enough to say this is important enough to put it on the ballot."
But in addition to the voting question, west-siders are concerned about whether they'll have enough money to pay for new schools to accommodate rapid growth. The east side of both school districts has more than half the tax base.
Lawmakers were expected to debate a bill that would have all four school districts in Salt Lake County pay into a building aid fund that would be distributed based on growth and current population. But the proposal would have left only Jordan a winner and would have resulted in an $11.3 million tax hike for Salt Lake City taxpayers.
House Republican and Democratic caucuses also showed little support for the bill. Several representatives said they did not see a critical need to deal with equalizing school building needs across district lines at this time. That issue is better dealt with in the 2008 general session, said several House Republicans.
Legislators decided to 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.
Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, said she believes that a better equalization proposal will come out of a task force study, and the delay will not hamper efforts to split the school district.
Senate leaders said statewide building equalization is something they will explore.
Senate Majority Whip Dan Eastman, R-Bountiful, will serve as the chairman of the newly formed legislative task force on the issue. Eastman, a former Davis County school board chairman, said achieving fairness in equalization is "very complicated."
Legislators also passed two other bills Wednesday regarding school district splits.
HB1004 ensures that Murray School District wouldn't automatically take over Cottonwood High School, which is situated within Murray City, if the Granite District splits. The measure would lower the minimum number of residents required in a new school district from 65,000 to 50,000, conceivably allowing more cities to form districts.
Lawmakers also approved Substitute HB1001, which allows residents of Draper's hilltop SunCrest community, which straddles Utah and Salt Lake counties, to keep their children in Alpine schools, if the Jordan District splits.
The bill 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 measure creates more flexibility in the requirements for a feasibility study prior to a school district split, so if a proposed new school district's boundaries change after the feasibility study is finished, the organizers don't necessarily have to restart the process.
Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore said the Legislature's efforts Wednesday "absolutely cleared the way for a vote by the citizens on the east side of the Jordan School District to create a new district."
Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. is expected to sign the bills when they reach his office, which typically takes a couple of days after lawmakers pass bills, spokeswoman Lisa Roskelley said.
State law doesn't set a specific deadline for when the ballot language on the Jordan split must be certified, Salt Lake County Clerk Sherrie Swensen said, based on a legal opinion she recently received from the district attorney's office. Even so, Swensen said she would like to have all the information by Sept. 1, or Sept. 4 at the latest.
Her biggest worry, however, is delays from a possible lawsuit.
"If there is some kind of legal challenge, then it really puts us against the wall," Swensen said. "Who knows how long that might take."
Contributing: Lisa Riley Roche.
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