"Personally, I'm not there yet," Corroon said. "We need more local control in our school districts, but I don't think we have all the information necessary."

A clapping crowd interrupted the mayor - an audible reminder of the east-against-west sentiment that has come to characterize a proposed school district split that would give west-siders no vote, but saddle them with an estimated $800 million in construction costs for new and remodeled schools.

Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley City, described the proposal as a "lousy, terrible, piece-of-junk law" and said it rekindles animosities between the valley's two sides.

"This is nothing more than bringing up the old east-side, west-side divisions," he said. "And we are going to get stuck with it."

The senator's comments resonated with the more than 40 Magna and Kearns residents who assembled at the Magna Recreation Center for an information meeting on the suggested split.

The proposal found few friends.

"I'm deeply opposed," said Ruby Martinez, a Kearns mother of two. With the west-side schools already struggling, Martinez said divorcing the more affluent east-side suburbs inevitably will make things worse.

She shook her head. "I don't think we, as responsible grown-ups, can do that."

Unfortunately, Martinez won't have a say on whether the school district splits; neither will any of the other residents who attended Tuesday's meeting - a detail that proved particularly irksome to the Magna-Kearns crowd.

Residents questioned the constitutionality of a vote that at least one attorney in the neighboring Jordan School District has said would likely disenfranchise voters, in violation of the 14th Amendment.

As the crowd dispersed Tuesday, Magna resident Carroll Golden stopped at the door. The father of two needed few words to sum up the proposed split.

"It sounds like we are going to get screwed."

jstettler@sltrib.com