Jordan District Split Moves Forward

None by KCPW

(KCPW News) The next step in splitting the Jordan School District is to divide the assets and liabilities between smaller East and West districts. West-side cities would rather not divorce, but are bound by law to cooperate. They've appointed former Jordan District School Boardmember Ralph Haws to lead their negotiating team:

"I think you're right when you say most of us would not have wanted that divorce," says Haws, referring to the other members of the West-side transition team. "I think our position would be it's probably questionable public policy. There's gonna be a lot of issues related to how it impacts our students, but that's not the responsibility of the team."

East-side cities that voted to split from the Jordan School District have appointed their own transition team. The two sides are responsible for deciding how to divide the Jordan School District's assets and liabilities by July 1st, 2008. That will be complicated since lawmakers have yet to create a plan for equalizing tax funding across the districts.

Haws says the teams are counting on Utah lawmakers to have a plan in place by the time the district splits in September of 2009. In the meantime, the Salt Lake County Council has drawn up boundaries from which the new school board members will be elected. Those boundaries are open for public comment until January 3rd.

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