That's Draper.

The city of about 33,000 in the southeast corner of Salt Lake County is key to a new east side school district because its growing population would prevent the district from facing enrollment declines.

“The worst possible situation for a school district to be in is declining enrollment,” said Mike Bennett, who completed a $9,500 study for Cottonwood Heights and Sandy.

And Draper “keeps them growing,” Bennett added.

Bennett, president of Bennett Educational Consultants Inc., presented his study to the Draper City Council on Tuesday night. The study is a preliminary feasibility study and doesn't outline all the costs and difficulty of creating a school district.

Of note: Although Sandy helped fund the study, the City Council there has yet to receive the same briefing.

Cities in Salt Lake and Utah counties have raised the idea of breaking off from the state's largest school districts with complaints of loss of local control, closed schools and lagging student performance since state lawmakers gave them the option with SB 77 earlier this year. But in the Jordan School District, population is also one of the big factors.

The 79,362-student Jordan School District is facing an enrollment boom. By 2015, district officials anticipate they will have grown by nearly 35,000 students. Almost all of that growth - and a potential for more than $600 million in bonds for new schools - is on the west side of the district.

According to Bennett, if Cottonwood Heights, Sandy, Draper and Midvale - Bennett noted that Midvale isn't very interested in breaking away - formed their own district, the school-age population would grow by less than 700 children over the next decade.

The east side cities, according to Bennett, are already paying for expansion on the west side. The four communities provide 55 percent of the property taxes collected by the school district, although students from the four cities make up 41 percent of the enrollment.

So, what do Draper officials think about the situation?

Councilman Bill Colbert is the most interested. “I'm strongly in favor of moving forward,” he said.

Jeff Stenquist, another member of the council, and Mayor Darrell Smith are much less committed but say the subject is worth investigation.

“Obviously, we've got to look at the data,” Smith said. The mayor also noted that two members of the City Council didn't attend Tuesday's meeting.

Bennett noted that an east side school district would give the cities autonomy, require no increase in property taxes, require no breaks in school feeder systems and free up some $31 million annually earmarked for school buildings on the west side.

Per-pupil funding would be higher in the east side district than the current Jordan School District - $6,722 compared to $6,407.

“Those are pretty big advantages,” Bennett said.