Some officials view the venture less eagerly than others.
"Are we warming to the idea? Only if we have to," said Midvale Mayor JoAnn Seghini. "We've included ourselves on the list so should there be a vote, we'd have a choice."
A proposed agreement to participate in a small-district feasibility study - joining in could be Alta, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Midvale, Sandy and Salt Lake County - is on the agendas this week of four municipal councils.
This latest iteration of the Jordan district debate follows a preliminary report requested earlier this year by Cottonwood Heights and Sandy. Draper's City Council heard a version of that report. South Salt Lake, Holladay and Salt Lake County have teamed up for another study involving a potential Granite School District split.
Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore shows enthusiasm for considering such a split.
"I get questions about it fairly frequently. Everyone who talks to me seems to be in favor," he said.
These entities also support further refinement of the new state law that opened the door for municipalities to consider such an endeavor. Many say the legislation, HB77, that led to the 2006 law is flawed. It raises questions about boundary issues, teacher contracts, and the dividing of major assets and debt.
"I think there's a lot more that needs to be done before we can bring [the district-splitting issue] to the voters," said Draper Councilman Bill Colbert.
As the law currently stands, Draper would be barred from this southern break-off because it straddles two counties - part of this mushrooming city lies in Salt Lake County and is in the Jordan district, and part spills over into Utah County and Alpine School District.
What worries Midvale's Seghini is the discussion's overriding emphasis on dollar signs.
"It's been hard to get them to focus on excellence in education," she said. "They're looking at money."
Seghini cited several district programs - special education, the alternative high school, Jordan's applied technology center, the state prison's Southpark Academy - that need to be given serious consideration through the feasibility-study process.
In the Little Cottonwood Canyon town of Alta, which has just 380 residents, the Jordan district enjoys broad-based support.
About four years ago, Jordan arranged for a satellite one-room school to be run out of the Goldminer's Daughter Lodge at Alta Ski Resort. In winter, student enrollment swells to 14, said Alta Mayor Tom Pollard.
"We're only involved [in the study] because of our contiguous nature to Cottonwood Heights and Sandy," Pollard said.
There are some unincorporated areas in the county, along with Alta, that would be contiguous and need to be included in the study.
"We've had a lot of interest from constituents to move ahead on this," County Councilman Mark Crockett said, adding that school closures ignited the short-term interest while the desire for better schools continues to feed the fire over the long term.
cmckitrick@sltrib.com
TONIGHT: Three city councils discuss the possible agreement to study splitting off from Jordan School District: Midvale at 6:30, Cottonwood Heights and Draper at 7.
รค 10 A.M. THURSDAY: The Alta Town Council considers the same agreement
Jordan School District
