Alpine School District (ASD) Division FAQs

Only residents who live in cities that have formed an interlocal agreement (ILA) will be able to vote this fall.

There are 2 ILAs:

• West (Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Cedar Fort, Fairfield)
• Central (Lehi, American Fork, Highland, Alpine, Cedar Hills, the portion of Draper within Utah County)

If any of the ballot measures pass, Alpine School District will be dissolved in 2027 and all areas would be part of new school districts.

They will not be able to vote.

If the West and Central ILAs pass, then Lindon, Orem, Vineyard, and Pleasant Grove will become their own new district.

If the Central fails but the West passes, then all cities not in the West ILA will become a new district.

If the Central passes but the West fails, then all cities not in the Central ILA will become a new district.

If the Central and West both fail, then Alpine School District will remain as it currently is.

If the West and Central ILAs pass, then each of them will become a new district and Lindon, Orem, Vineyard, and Pleasant Grove will become their own new district.

If the Central fails but the West passes, then the West cities will become a new district and all cities not in the West ILA will become a new district.

If the Central passes but the West fails, then all cities not in the Central ILA will become a new district.

If the Central and West both fail, then Alpine School District will remain as it currently is.

There is a lot of information voters should seek when deciding how to vote. We highly recommend that voters consider all arguments for and against a district reconfiguration.

Use the Contact page to submit questions you would like more information on.

Multiple studies have been done over the last 4 years looking at various ways to split the district. All options studied so far have been considered financially viable.

See the studies for more information: West Interlocal Study, Central Interlocal Study, MGT Study, Orem DEC Study

In Utah, most funding for public education comes from the state on a per-pupil basis called the Weighted Pupil Unit (WPU).

According to the MGT Study, 64% of ASD funding comes from this source. The same study says that 23% of funding comes from property taxes, with federal and miscellaneous funding making up the rest.

Yes, Utah allows all students the flexibility to attend schools outside their geographic boundaries. Particularly regarding a district split, Utah code allows students to attend their current school for up to 6 years after the split.

According to ASD, the West ILA area needs one new high school and three new elementary schools. Property for new schools and a transportation center also needs to be acquired.

The Central ILA area needs to rebuild AF High School and a new elementary school. Lehi and Alpine Elementaries also have seismic issues.

The East area needs to rebuild PG High School and address seismic issues at about 6 schools.

According to ASD, A West district would have approximately 24,184 students, making it the 11th largest district in Utah.

A Central district would have approximately 34,812 students (6th largest in Utah) and the East would have approximately 25,672 students (9th largest in Utah).

According to Utah law, the new school boards will be up for election in 2025, with each district having an initial three or five year term. The new board members will begin their service on January 1, 2026.

According to Utah law, the existing district (ASD) will continue to exist for 32 months after the vote (July 1, 2027).

During that time, ASD will prepare an inventory so that all new school districts can divide the resources as evenly as possible. The new school districts will begin to exist, but decisions regarding those districts will be made by the school boards that would be elected in 2025. Their first school year will begin in 2027.

If ASD does not divide, it will still have to build new schools, and the only way to do that is by raising taxes. Future tax increases could come in 3 ways:

1. The property tax rate can be raised by the school board to build schools with cash. ASD is already planning to raise taxes this year.
2. General Obligation (GO) bonds (must be approved by voters) are mostly used for capitol needs like buildings
3. Lease Revenue Bonds (LRB) can be used by the school board. These are generally considered more expensive to taxpayers than GO bonds, and they have been limited by SB86.)

If the district does divide, each area will most likely have to raise taxes to build new schools, repair old schools, and/or supplement the changing funding dynamic. In short, taxes will likely go up across the district whether there is a reconfiguration or not.

Yes, multiple feasibility studies have demonstrated that each area will have an adequate tax base.

See the studies for more information: West Interlocal Study, Central Interlocal Study, MGT Study, Orem DEC Study

Start-up costs could include a new district office, software licenses, and computer systems. Each district will have different needs and future boards will decide those costs.

Utah law 53G-3-301.4(11) also allows an ILA participant to assist a new school district by entering into a loan agreement or securing a line of credit.

Utah state code guarantees that teachers maintain the same pay, benefits, retirement, policies, seniority, etc. for one year following a split. Teachers also become a part of whatever district their building is located in once a new district is formed. They cannot be fired by the new districts.

District employees don’t have the same protections, but most current employees are expected to be needed in the newly formed districts. Those decisions will be made after the district is created.

New school districts will need to compete to keep teachers, or they may leave. Newly elected school board members would need to make sure their district is an attractive place to work or they could lose teachers. In this way, market forces could help improve pay and benefits for teachers.

State law guarantees that each new district owns the resources in that area plus whatever is in the building. So every school, building, or physical asset associated with a school or piece of land in that area stays in that area, including desks, chairs, and computers.

Assets or liabilities not tied to a location are divided by student population. School buses and other vehicles are divided based on the number of routes reimbursable by the state. Buses are divided to show an equitable balance of age and wear and tear.

School districts are required to enter into shared service agreements for up to 5 years to allow students to continue to access special education services (e.g. schools like Dan Peterson and ATEC East). All programs will be subject to the new school board. In general, communities will have a greater say in what programs they want to offer.

Schools and school boards would continue to make these decisions, just as they do now. If a program makes sense and provides value, then school boards and administrators would likely keep those programs and classes.

Even as one district, classes come and go based on the needs and resources available.

For six years following the creation of a school district, parents and students can choose to attend a secondary school outside the new district if you lived in that area prior to the split. And if busing was provided before the split, it will continue to be available.

Like all change, there will be positive and negative consequences for everyone. Even if the district doesn’t split, students will be affected in good and bad ways.

The research indicates that student achievement, student well-being, funding, and many other factors improve in districts ranging from 4,000 to 40,000.

Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs, Lehi, and Vineyard will all continue to grow for the foreseeable future. As one district or several, schools will need to be built to keep up with growth.

Several schools across the district have been on watch lists for declining enrollment. If ASD does not divide, board members will likely push to close these schools to free up funding for other uses. Many residents with overcrowded schools in the West consider it unfair that schools with small enrollment are allowed to stay open. In a district division, these decisions would be made by board members residing closer to the affected areas.

Older schools are also listed as having seismic issues (unreinforced masonry). A 2022 Utah report listed ASD as having 7 buildings with seismic issues totaling an estimated $282 million to repair. The last bond proposed by ASD only provided funds for one school to be rebuilt and/or consolidated. The East side could prioritize funding to fix these schools if they became their own district.

The problems we are currently facing will not go away if there is no split. Needs on all sides of the district are not being met. Schools need to be built, and some may need to be closed. Access to programs and services is not equal across the district.

If no split happens, a district-wide bond will likely be proposed to pay for the needed schools. According to ASD, this would cost the average homeowner around $179 per year. Additionally, the issue of unequal representation does not go away because the growth in the West will continue, but board member boundaries only get adjusted every 10 years.

Large districts can benefit from economies of scale. This means they can use their size to lower administrative costs. Training and coordination of teachers throughout the district is another benefit.

When a district is too big, however, we see what is called “diseconomies of scale”. This means that there are too many layers of administration and/or problems with communication between the top of the organization and the lower-level staff.

Smaller districts (4,000 – 50,000 students) benefit from many of the economies of scale that larger districts utilize, but they are not burdened by the additional red tape of multiple layers of bureaucracy. The superintendent is closer to the principals at the schools. Board members are closer to both schools and constituents. For more research, see https://smallerschools.org/smaller-districts/