For more than a century, Murray has operated its own school district. In recent years, land to the east annexed into the city, but remained part of Granite School District.

The neighboring cities of South Salt Lake and Holladay have teamed up dwith a section of Salt Lake County to pursue a possible split from Granite to form their own school district.

In coming weeks, each of their governing councils will vote on whether to place the initiative on November's ballot. But Murray closed the door Tuesday on their east-side voters casting ballots on the measure.

"We voted to opt out, mostly because over 90 percent of the people in Murray who attended our meetings voted in favor of nonparticipation," Councilwoman Krista Dunn said Wednesday. "If we did participate, there would be no possibility of them coming into the Murray School District."

Granite's Cottonwood High is located in Murray and serves hundreds of students in that area and hundreds more bused from Salt Lake County's west side.

The school's enrollment is projected to drop significantly if the new district forms because it would lose those students from the west side. And, if a new district is created without Murray's participation, those Cottonwood students on Murray's east side would be grafted into the Murray district.

"What it came down to for most of these people was they preferred to be in Murray rather than in the new district," Dunn said. "We didn't hear anyone say they wanted to be part of the new district; most wanted to kill it."

cmckitrick@sltrib.com