There is a growing movement to split Utah’s Granite School District in half.
Catalyzed by school closures in wealthier areas, some parents wonder if their children’s school district has become too big to adequately represent them.
Parents and policymakers are asking city councils in Holladay, Millcreek, South Salt Lake and Emigration Canyon to approve a feasibility study, which would act as the first step to split the district in half.
Granite School District covers a horizontal slice of the Salt Lake Valley, from Magna in the west all the way to Holladay, which sits on the east bench of the valley in the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains.
The district serves a wide socioeconomic range of students. It covers areas of rapidly constructed new-builds and areas where the median home price is $1.7 million.
With how large the district has become, parents feel their school board members cannot adequately represent them.
The issue has taken a central role in the Holladay mayoral race, set for Nov. 3, with parents on both sides of the aisle advocating for a feasibility study.
How does Granite School District’s size compare with others?
In 2021, Granite School District served 62,544 students, making it the 62nd largest district in the country out of more than 13,000 school districts.
South of Granite, Alpine School District ranked 36th largest in the nation in 2021, with more than 85,000 enrolled students. But last November, voters approved a three-way split, which is set to go into effect in the summer of 2027.
After the split, Davis County School District will be the largest in the state, serving around 70,000 students.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, Murray City School District serves around 6,000 students.
What do studies say about school district size?
Various studies have shown school districts operate well when enrollment ranges roughly from 15,000 to 30,000 students.
Districts that are either too large or too small suffer the same conclusion: tax-dollar inefficiency.
In 2022, Utah’s Auditor’s Office conducted a study on public education administrative costs. They found that “some of the lowest administrative costs per student are among midsize and large districts (i.e., those with student counts of 10,000 to 20,000 students).”
Districts that are too small suffer from limited resources and higher per-student costs. On the other hand, mammoth districts can suffer from diseconomies of scale, bureaucratic inefficiencies and reduced student achievement.
Another study across 13,600 schools in six states found that smaller schools and smaller school districts with many economically disadvantaged students “are likely to have higher average test scores than their counterparts in larger systems.”
The study found a “consistently predictable relationship between smaller schools and school districts and higher test scores.”
Parents want more representation
Taylor Davis, a Millcreek resident and father, told the Deseret News, “I’m not frustrated with the money being spent. I’m frustrated with the fact that one of the highest revenue categories, my property tax, is where I actually have the lowest amount of representation.”
His school board representative, Julie Jackson, represents 15 schools, whereas in Murray School District, each board member represents about 1.2 schools.
In Murray, if you were to randomly ask school board members how things were going at their school, Davis believes “they could tell you everything about it.” He worries that school board members’ burdens are too high to genuinely understand and represent every school they are assigned.
Holladay mayoral candidate Daren Watts told the Deseret News, as he was knocking doors for his campaign he heard about the issue from multiple voters. “This was an issue that continued to come up again and again” — from parents on both sides of the aisle, he said.
The city’s other mayoral candidate, councilman Paul Fotheringham, did not respond to a request for comment from the Deseret News about his position on a feasibility study.
What happens to poorer areas when high income cities leave a district?
Three of the four areas asking their cities to do a feasibility study are the richest areas in the district. South Salt Lake has the lowest median income of any area in the school district, at $68,000.
Holladay, Millcreek and Emigration Canyon have median incomes of $112,300, $98,500 and $184,700, respectively.
During school district splits, the seceding area keeps their local property tax revenue as school funding, leaving the original district with a smaller tax base. Areas not included in the new district would not vote on the split, if it were put on the ballot.
Contrary to the researcher’s hypothesis, a comprehensive study by the University of Alabama at Birmingham found, “School districts with an ongoing or successful secession attempt also had fewer per-pupil revenues, but those differences were not statistically significant.”
Meanwhile, other studies have found that the districts left behind are worse off after secession. A 2022 study found the resulting poorer districts face 10%-15% funding cuts, higher teacher turnover and reduced college readiness scores.
Parents in Granite School District want a feasibility study, which will give local policymakers more data to decide what will ultimately serve students best.
What is the legal process for splitting a school district in Utah?
The first step to splitting a school district in Utah is to commission a feasibility study. In this case, Holladay, Millcreek, South Salt Lake and Emigration Canyon would form an interlocal agreement to commission the study.
The study costs about $50,000, and it would be paid for by the area wanting to secede.
Once the feasibility study is complete, the interlocal group would host two council meetings to present what the feasibility study found and allow a space for the community to discuss.
Then, if a majority of the city councils approve in the respective areas, the proposal to split Granite School District would be placed on the ballot.
Davis said parents in Holladay, Millcreek, South Salt Lake and Emigration have a goal to put seceding on the ballot in November 2026.
If it passes, two new districts would be created over a three-year period. A new superintendent would be hired, new school boards would be elected and a new name for the district would be chosen.
In 2009, Jordan School District split in half, creating Canyons School District.
Davis told the Deseret News, when he speaks to people on both sides of the split, they tell him it was difficult and a long process, but “I have never had a single person — I’m talking teachers, administrators, citizens — I’ve never had a single person tell me they wish that they were still together.”