Backers of the push to break up the Jordan School District, Utah's largest, and form a new east-side district can breathe easier now. They dodged a potential death knell Thursday when Alta's Town Council voted 3-0 to put the issue on the Nov. 6 ballot.

The tiny resort town - where barely 100 residents voted in the most recent municipal election - could have killed the plan. If the Alta council had opted to stick with Jordan, the town would have become a geographic island in the proposed new district - something forbidden in the 2006 state law driving the potential district defection.

But three council members, including Alta Mayor Tom Pollard, voted to let the canyon community's voters decide the school-district issue, alongside other residents in the would-be district.

Cottonwood Heights, Midvale and Draper voted earlier this week to put the issue on the fall ballot as well. Sandy is expected to follow suit next week.

"We're just thrilled to have Alta as a partner," Cottonwood Heights Mayor Kelvyn Cullimore said Thursday. "They felt - as did the others who have approved it thus far - that allowing their citizens to have a say was more important than making that determination on their behalf."

The last big hurdle looms at the Salt Lake County Council on July 31. If that council nixes the ballot proposal - the members are split about evenly on the issue right now - the plan for a new district could crumble. That's because, similar to Alta, the county presides over unincorporated islands along the east bench that, by law, could not remain in Jordan while being surrounded by a new district.

On Thursday, small Alta proved to be one of the largest players in the mushrooming movement. In the end, the council, clad in summer shorts and jeans, kept the effort alive - but not without some angst.

"The law and the process under which this district formation is taking place leaves much to be desired," Councilman Dave Richards said. "However, I think the voters have a right to be part of the discussion regarding their children's education."

During Thursday's meeting, a few Alta residents lobbed questions from their seats to the Town Council. It was more of a group huddle - befitting this laid-back resort haven - than a formal public hearing.

Resident Karen Travis said she has leaned back on forth on her support for pursuing an east-side district, but the Jordan School Board members' decision this week to give themselves a 300 percent raise pushed her over the edge.

"They're responsive to themselves, not to us, who are paying their salaries," Travis said. "I thought: 'That's our money that ought to be able to go to teachers' salaries' " or other expenses.

Dawn Page worried about the fate of the town's lone school, a one-room schoolhouse tucked inside the Goldminer Daughter's Lodge, in an east-side district. A new district administration could decide the 18-student school had to close.

"That would be tragic," Page said after the meeting.

Opponents of dividing Jordan argue that the district, which has been nationally recognized, is functioning fine. And, they argue, allowing east-siders to determine the district's fate without giving west-siders a vote is unfair - if not unconstitutional.

"Everyone should have the right to vote because it affects everyone," said Sandy resident Luanne Gustafson, president of Sandy's Eastmont Middle School PTA. "We're all supposed to be in this for the good of the student - not east versus west."

rwinters@sltrib.com

When councils could vote on ballot issue for proposed Jordan split:

* SANDY: Tuesday

* SALT LAKE COUNTY: July 31

When councils could vote on ballot issue for proposed Granite split:

* HOLLADAY: July 19

* SOUTH SALT LAKE: July 25

* SALT LAKE COUNTY: July 31