South Jordan Joins Cities Considering Own District Split
None by KCPW
(KCPW News) Not keen to be left behind, South Jordan City officials are the latest to consider creating their own smaller school district. The town of 50-thousand will be left in the old Jordan School District if voters approve an East-West Split this November. And that has South Jordan wondering if maybe it could do better:"We've always been happy with Jordan School District and would be very happy if it stayed as it is," says Dawson. "But the reality is as that comes to the ballot, it may not happen. So we need to be prepared and look at all the options."
South Jordan spokesman Chip Dawson says city officials are still considering participating in a lawsuit to allow their citizens to vote on the proposed split. But a recent law passed by the legislature in special session opens a new avenue to the city:
"Previously the Utah Legislature set a limit of 65-thousand residents before you could consider creating your own district," says Dawson. "That has been lowered to 50-thousand and South Jordan has recently passed that threshold. So now we have that option."
On Thursday, the South Jordan City Council will hold a special session, open to the public, to consider school district options. West Jordan and Taylorsville are mulling similar moves.
Jordan School District residents east of the Jordan River will vote on a smaller district this November.
Email to a friendPosted in KCPW Newsroom, Legislative Coverage, Election Coverage, 2007 Legislative Coverage, and Election 2007. Copyright 2008 KCPW
1. Cindy said:
Go South Jordan!
3. JR said:
I don't care about the children. I just don't want my taxes raised. I'm already paying for everyone elses mistakes. I'm voting no.
2. Jason Bourne said:
We have a failing public school system which continues to suck down more and more money while delivering less in terms of well educated graduates.
We continue to fall behind the rest of the world in both the quality of our educational output and the quantity.
Tanya Clay House of the ultra-liberal People for the American Way recently declared, "We've never seen a shred of credible evidence that shows school vouchers actually help students learn. While all public schools must demonstrate success under No Child Left Behind, private schools are not held to the same level of accountability for their performance."
But lets ask the question another way, speaking of those same shreds of evidence, we've not seen many that point to those now in charge of that public school system having the ability to turn that around. In fact, there seems to be more evidence than not that they're incapable of doing so.
So the question becomes how competition could be any worse than monopoly? How could allowing the consumer of the education product to choose that which they find to best fill their own childrens needs be any worse than the arbitrary standards and needs of the monopoly?
From the side of the political spectrum which claims to be for "choice" this should be an issue for which they are fighting for the choice vouchers bring, not against.
Jason Bourne