Splitting now is likely to be financially challenging for many years. Remaining as one district will be less costly, avoid unnecessary tax increases, and use our already tight school funds more wisely.

According to the MGT survey, 90% of Alpine School District (ASD) employees oppose splitting the district. More recently, the board of the Alpine Educators Association (the teachers organization) in response to surveying their organization, issued a public statement reaffirming their opposition to dividiing the district. 

ASD's strong performance comes largely from pooling funds and resources to create innovative solutions that enhance student learning. These initiatives could be at risk as new boards wrestle with what to fund or not fund with reduced resources. The core programs for basic education will obviously get first dollars. It is the additional programs like DLI, ALL, supplemental Special Ed, English language learners, and so on which will be impacted the most. 

Change is certain. The economy will not always be strong. Demographics in different areas will shift over time. A group of cities will weather these changes much better than a single city or even smaller clusters. 

We would like to see the ASD Board make this a stated priority, working actively towards a well-structured division.

ASD is not perfect, but it is financially responsible, academically strong, and committed to continuous improve. When South Jordan studied the possibilty of leaving Jordan SD in 2014, a primary reason they gave for not moving ahead was the realization that these programs were very likely to be impacted and that that "these specialty course offerings could take years to replicate." 

We acknowledge that this won’t happen because of actions taken by the state legislature. Approximately 80,000 voters will have no say on a potential reconfiguration even though they represent 30% of the taxbase. 

We urge the legislature to restore the ability of a districd to place their recommendations on the ballot and, since all residents will be impacted, all residents should be allowed to vote regardless of how the initiative gets to the ballot.