As the issue over potentially dividing the state's largest school district simmers, education experts say no large district in the country has split in recent years.

"Utah is going to be out front in exploring this," said Shannon Bingham, an educational consultant based in Colorado. "If you're successful, there's a strong chance this could open a floodgate of other districts that want to make this kind of change."

Thanks to a 2006 Utah law, cities can join forces to create a new school district if voters in that potential new district agree. This month, the councils of Sandy, Cottonwood Heights, Draper, Midvale, Alta and Salt Lake County are expected to decide whether to put the issue to their voters in the fall. If those residents give the nod, a new district would be born from the eastern portion of the Jordan School District.

While the idea may seem revolutionary here, big districts in other states have nearly split before.

Some of the country's largest districts have repeatedly come under assault as communities watch student numbers bulge. Often the push to divide is an effort to improve education and rein in bureaucracy. In Utah, parents talk about regaining control and focusing tax dollars where they're needed most.

Politics and emotions can be the biggest stumbling blocks to division - not to mention the threat of lawsuits. Instead of subdividing, districts often reorganize.

One of the most well-known near divisions took place in the 47,000-student Omaha, Neb., school district. That attempt prompted the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People to file suit against the state, arguing the division would split the district along racial lines. The division attempt was abandoned after a new law created an 11-district "learning community" with integration provisions. The lawsuits were withdrawn.

In some states, there is no law that would allow subdivision to occur - as is the case in Clark County, Nev., one of the nation's largest school districts with 302,000 students. A debate about whether the district should remain whole is ongoing.

Even when the law makes division possible, politics may not. Despite years of efforts to divide the 708,000-student Los Angeles school district, it remains intact.

"L.A. was the closest, but in the end it fizzled out," said Kathy Christie, vice president for the Denver-based Education Commission of the States Clearinghouse, which helps states develop education policy.

It's not just that the mechanics are complicated.People may not embrace the idea because of district loyalty or resistance to racial and socio-economic changes.

"Lots of people will buy into the first level of the conversation," she said. "But when you get right down to it, it becomes highly controversial."

Nevertheless, education experts say previous failure doesn't mean a district split will never happen.

Every situation is different, said Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore.

"I don't think that means it's a bad concept," he said. "I think the fact that many have attempted and not succeeded is an indication of how difficult it is."

Bingham, the educational consultant who helped write the report on the potential division of the Jordan district, described Jordan's current organizational structure as "extremely functional and extremely approachable." But officials won't be able to control that forever as enrollment spirals toward 100,000.

"How many people in the educational leadership circles of the state of Utah really want to see one or two districts in the state of Utah go the way of Clark County and become something so big . . . that it becomes a runaway train?" he said.

Rather than breaking up, one of the newer trends is "local school empowerment" in which principals gain control of budget, curriculum, staffing and schedules and are held accountable for the school's success.

William Ouchi, a UCLA Anderson School of Management professor who has studied the method, sees the powerful benefits of decentralization through school-based budgetary control.

"What happens when you give freedom to principals?" he said, noting they don't hire the same number of clerks and office staff. "They use all their money instead to hire more classroom teachers."

Teachers' total student numbers go down as a result.

Implemented to different degrees in New York City, Chicago, Seattle and other districts, the preliminary research on restructuring suggests it helps boost student achievement.

"You leave it up to the principals, they all figure it out for themselves," Ouchi said.

jlyon@sltrib.com