S.L. County is delaying vote on district split

Salt Lake County leaders are waiting until the last possiblemoment to make -- or break -- the fate of a possible split of theGranite School District.

The County Council will likely wait until Aug. 7, after citiesinvolved have already made up their minds, to decide whether toleave the district's fate up to voters in November.

So why all the fuss about the county's vote?

"Someone (at the county level) made the deliberate decision thatwe're going to let the cities decide first, and it's up to Salt LakeCounty to pull the plug on this and go forward," Councilman JoeHatch said. "So we're either the bad guys or the good guys,depending on your point of view."

Earlier this year, the Legislature passed a law granting citiesthe power to break off from Utah's large school districts and formsmaller, locally controlled school districts.

Holladay, South Salt Lake and areas of unincorporated Salt LakeCounty, including the Millcreek Township, are considering breakingoff from the Granite School District and starting their own, to theconsternation of some county residents, particularly those on thewest side. Those critics say such splits would leave the west sidewith no alternative but to raise taxes to fund operations andconstruction of schools.

But all this waiting by the County Council still won't answer thenagging question of how to equalize the burden of schoolconstruction and operations on a county-wide level.

County leaders are at odds with one another over the issue. Somecouncil members argue that the district needs to be split now andanswer questions later, while Mayor Peter Corroon and other membersof the council are more cautious, wanting all of the informationbefore asking voters to make the ultimate decision.

Corroon doesn't want to even think about splitting the districtuntil the equalization question is answered. But Councilmen MarkCrockett and Jeff Allen believe the Legislature will solve theproblem in due time through a special session.

Although Allen acknowledges that he doesn't have all the answers,he said the county needs to take the lead in putting the question onthe ballot. He said the Legislature won't do anything to fix theproblem unless the county acts and puts the split decision beforevoters.

"Leadership is making a decision in the absence of absoluteknowledge. That's what I think we are charged to do, is to lead outon this," Allen said. "If you don't have all the answers, you need aleader, and a leader needs to make a decision based off of, 'Is thisa good policy? Are small school districts a good policy?' Yes, theyare."

Answers to the financial questions are in the works. On July 18,the Education Interim Committee voted to ask Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr.to call the Legislature into session either this summer or fall toclear up some of the financial questions, in case the school-district splits go before voters.

To date, Huntsman hasn't responded to that call.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, has proposed a bill thatwould equalize school construction on a county-wide basis, so thatall school building and renovation funds would go into one pot andthen be divvied as needed.

Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, who sponsored the 2007small school district bill, said the issue has come a long way,"even in the last week, in terms of solutions," and she's sure thatthe funding issues on the west side will be resolved.

"We've always said this was a process. And it is. In any bigchange, you don't make one big fell swoop and it's solved. You needfine tuning to make it work, and that's what we're doing," sheadded. "I don't think a vote would pass if the part that's breakingoff feels they're really damaging or if that wasn't viable."

County Council Chairman Mark Crockett said he is confidentlegislators will equalize capital funding and operations issueslater.

"Now that the homework has been done to point out the inequitiesin capital funding, I think it's obvious we have to do something,and I believe they will do it."

However, Councilman Jenny Wilson isn't so sure.

She said everyone should slow down and wait a year before makingany rash decisions on splitting Granite School District.

"To me, it's such an overwhelming policy change that I think moretime -- an additional year -- will put us where we need to be,"Wilson said.

The County Council is scheduled to discuss the school districtsplit on July 31 and will take public comment. The council willlikely vote on the issue Aug. 7.

Contributing: Amelia Nielson-Stowell

E-mail: ldethman@desnews.com