Legislation Aimed at Correcting School District Split Problems

02.04.2010 by Elizabeth Ziegler

Senator Howard Stephenson

(KCPW News) A bill intended to clean up problems created by the Jordan School District division is close to passing out of the Utah Legislature. Yesterday, co-sponsor Senator Howard Stephenson said his legislation addresses some of the concerns that arose in the aftermath.

“It’s not changing everything to do with the splitting of districts but it’s changing a couple of things that are very important: No holdover school board members and aligning the dates for the startup of the district to be more easily accommodating the split,” he said.

Under the current law, Jordan School District board members were allowed to stay in office without facing re-election after the split, so some board members now have longer terms than they were elected to serve. Stephenson’s bill corrects this. It also attempts to correct the timeline for allocating district property.

The bill unanimously passed the Utah House of Representatives, but it garnered two “No” votes in the Senate. Senator Lyle Hillyard said he wants the Legislature to start from scratch and redo the law for dividing school districts. And he thinks the debate should be postponed until the next district is considering dividing.

“If you do it now, the argument is, and I think it’s a good one, you’re not really emotionally involved whether it’s the splitting up Salt Lake, or splitting up Provo, or whatever it may be,” says Hillyard.  “When you have the people right in front of you, then I think you can relate better to how it impacts people.”

House Bill 29, “School District Division Amendments,” faces one last vote in the Utah Senate before it can be forwarded to the governor for his approval.