LEHI, Utah (ABC4) — Six separate city councils across Utah County met Tuesday and voted unanimously to let voters decide in November whether the Alpine School District will be split or not.
Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Draper, Highland, and Lehi city councils all voted to let residents make the decision about the creation of a new school district — which has temporarily been named the Central School District.
Members of the councils sought public input about the potential district split, and hundreds of residents participated in a public comment period.
The councils received “overwhelming feedback from voters who want to make the decision for themselves regarding whether the creation of a new school district would improve decision making, more equitably distribute resources, provide smaller classroom sizes and reduce the need to increase taxes,” according to a press release.
In April 2024, the councils also voted unanimously to study the creation of the potential new district, and discovered that the new district could result in less of a tax increase than staying in the Alpine School District.
“The opportunity to create a new school district is unique and doesn’t come around very often,” Highland City Mayor Kurt Ostler said. “This decision affects everyone, whether you have a child in the district or not. I encourage the public to learn the facts, engage with us and vote.”
As it stands, the Alpine School District is the largest school district in the Beehive State with more than 84,000 students — and officials said the Central School District would still be among the largest districts in the state, should voters approve the split.
While the splitting of the districts will be on the ballot in Nov. 2024, the new school board would take some time to be operational — and the future board would choose the final name of the school district.
Elections for the new school board would not take place until Nov. 2025, board members would not take office until Jan. 2026, and the new board would be expected to start operations in July 2027.
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