Voters in six Utah County cities will soon decide whether to break away from the state’s largest school district and form a new, smaller “central” district.
Collectively, their choice will also determine whether the Alpine School District will cease to exist or remain partially intact.
On Tuesday, the city councils of American Fork, Cedar Hills, Draper, Alpine, Highland, and Lehi all voted to add the “Central District” proposal to ballots this November. As an interlocal measure, only residents in those cities will vote on it.
If that new school district is established, Alpine will be divided into three smaller districts within Utah County: central, west and south, said Aaron Davidson, Utah County Clerk.
“Alpine School District will just basically be dissolved, and all the assets will be distributed among the three new districts,” Davidson said.
This three-way split will occur regardless of whether a separate proposal for a new “West District,” involving Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield and Cedar Fort, makes it onto ballots and is also approved by voters in those cities.
However, it’s still uncertain if the West District proposal will appear on ballots, as only Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain’s city councils have passed resolutions for it. Fairfield’s town council is expected to vote Aug. 14, and Cedar Fort officials have not yet responded to inquiries about when they plan to vote.
In a scenario where the Central District proposal fails but the West District proposal passes, the Alpine School District will remain intact, minus the cities of Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield, and Cedar Fort, Davidson said.
In the case where a central district is created, the third “South District” would comprise of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Vineyard. Those four cities met in May to discuss the possibility of forming an interlocal split agreement but ultimately decided against it.
“There was not enough support from any of the councils to push for an interlocal agreement, because the majority of those individuals felt that a split from Alpine was not in the best interest of our community,” said Lindon City administrator Adam Cowie.
For Draper, which spans both Utah and Salt Lake counties, the potential new Central District would serve only the residents in the Utah County portion of the city, according to a news release.
Alpine School District’s own split proposal was blocked
Splitting the Alpine School District has been a looming possibility for decades due to its rapid population growth. The district covers nearly half of Utah County, which encompasses 13 municipalities and 92 schools.
But it wasn’t until last year that district leaders took formal steps to set it in motion.
The district was gearing up this year to put its own split proposal on November ballots until state lawmakers shut down the effort. During a special June legislative session, lawmakers passed HB3003, titled “School District Amendments,” which prevented local school boards from initiating the process to divide a district.
The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Brady Brammer, R-Pleasant Grove, said the legislation was necessary because the Alpine school board’s proposed split would have conflicted with the interlocal ballot measures.
“It was never intended that there be multiple splits put on the ballot at the same time,” Brammer said in June. “If there are multiple measures on the ballot and they all pass, what happens? Nobody knows. That’s the problem that this bill is intended to solve.”
The difference between an interlocal split and a district-initiated split is that, for interlocal splits, only voters from the cities involved in the agreement vote on it. A district split proposal would have included voters from all cities within the Alpine School District.
The district had been working to narrow down its split proposal from six potential redistricting options suggested by MGT, a Florida-based consulting firm that the district hired to conduct a reconfiguration study.
One of those options was a three-way split — the exact scenario that will occur if the Central District proposal passes. The firm cautioned district leadership against it due to limited community support for the option and what they considered a higher risk of complications.
“A three-way [split], in terms of splitting your resources and assets, might be 10 times as hard,” Lance Richards, educational performance manager for MGT, told Alpine school board leaders in April.
Board leadership ultimately decided to further study a two-way split option to potentially place on ballots. But the Legislature’s action prevented them from moving forward.
Lawmakers called the bill a “temporary” fix and said they would likely restore districts’ ability to initiate splits once a “prioritization system” is established in next year’s general legislative session.
Alpine School District officials said in a statement they are aware of the proposed interlocal ballot measures but remain committed to students.
“While municipal leaders and residents in those areas consider these important issues, we maintain our focus on providing excellence in education to the students in our 92 schools,” officials said. “As a district, we remain committed to our mission to achieve our vision for learning for each student and to ensure Alpine is a rewarding learning environment for our students, teachers, staff, and administrators.”
Past attempts to split the district have failed
There have been several previous attempts to split the Alpine School District, but only one ever made it onto a ballot.
That 2022 proposal would have created a new school district in Orem, which the Orem City Council pitched in August of that year.
Proponents of the Orem split argued that the Alpine School District was unable to meet Orem students’ needs because of its large size. It ultimately failed, with 73% of local voters rejecting it.
Orem residents had previously attempted to split from Alpine in 2006. That year, they filed a petition to the Orem City Council requesting a split, but after a feasibility study, the City Council voted against it.
Other proposals to split the district have been blocked by the Utah County Commission. In 2004, commissioners declined to add a potential new school district for Lehi, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain to the ballot after a feasibility study didn’t recommend it.
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Correction • Aug. 11, 11 a.m.: This story has been updated to correct the name of the new “West District” that could be created, involving Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield and Cedar Fort.