With that in mind, the City Council tabled action Wednesday on an interlocal agreement to initiate a feasibility study with Holladay and Salt Lake County.

"There are too many unanswered questions," said Mayor Bob Gray. The city's attorney advised addressing those first before establishing terms of the pending agreement.

When Utah lawmakers passed HB 77 in March, the new law opened the door for cities with 65,000 residents or more to form their own school districts. Smaller cities could band together to do the same, as long as borders were contiguous.

South Salt Lake, with 23,000 residents, could combine with Holladay, which has 28,000 residents - but their borders do not touch. If Millcreek Township and portions of unincorporated Salt Lake County came on board, their land and residents could fill the gap.

Even so, a small chunk of land in Murray could kill the whole deal.

Council Chairman Bill Anderson described it as the "toe" around Cottonwood High School - which is part of the Granite School District. The rest of Murray falls under that city's own century-old school district.

The new law states that a district cannot be created if it leaves an island, explained Anderson.

If South Salt Lake formed a new district by combining with the county and Holladay - and possibly even Cottonwood Heights, which initiated its own study earlier this week - then that small piece of Murray would be isolated.

Could Murray absorb that area into its district?

"The way our attorney reads the law, it's not possible for an existing district to expand its boundaries without the agreement of the current school district involved," Anderson said.

"I'm unclear at this point how it will affect us. But if we can't resolve that issue, we should just go home. It's dead and we can't do anything about it," he said.

In Holladay, where the small school district concept has substantial community support, the City Council is expected to discuss the interlocal agreement in May.

Salt Lake County Mayor Peter Corroon said he's talked about the idea, in passing, with the mayors of Cottonwood Heights, Holladay and South Salt Lake.

The Cottonwood Heights study should be finished by mid-July.

cmckitrick@sltrib.com