Next Wednesday, Utah will get its first new school district in nearly a century. It's a milestone, to be sure, though not everyone agrees it's a good thing for the state and its children. The jury is still out.

The Canyons School District is partially the result of parent frustration with the formerly huge Jordan School District, which was the state's largest and one of the biggest in the country. But it's also a result of legislative desires to dilute the power of public schools and a yearning among mayors of east-side Salt Lake County cities, particularly Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore, to control local schools and keep locally generated taxes under their thumb.

They didn't like the idea of east-side residents' tax money being used to build schools on the west side of Jordan district and lobbied the Legislature for a law that would let them leave Jordan to form their own school district and take their substantial commercial tax base with them.

Parents, tired of trying to deal with the cumbersome and impersonal bureaucracy of such a large district, added their voices. And the Legislature complied with a vague and shortsighted law that allowed the new district to be created by a vote of only those living within its future boundaries. Residents of what would remain of the Jordan district had no say, but they were left with the expense of building schools for a burgeoning population with a much smaller tax base.

We agreed

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that the Jordan School District was too big. But we opposed the process that created the Canyons district and a contentious division of assets finally made by an arbitration board. The flawed law also led to a quickly crafted countywide capital funds equalization law requiring all other districts in Salt Lake County to bail out what remained of the Jordan district, in some cases by raising property taxes. Jordan district property owners face a possible 30 percent tax hike and teacher pay is frozen.

That's now mostly water under the bridge. Looking forward, we suggest an amended law to create a better process for future district splits, and a fair statewide equalization of funding for school district capital needs.

Canyons' future looks bright. In structuring a new district, administrators have a rare opportunity to try innovative ideas to improve learning for students across the spectrum of income, race, ability and background. We're encouraged that Superintendent Dave Doty plans to seize this moment and make the most of it.

We hope he and his administration succeed and wish them well.