Rob's blog

I previously went on record stating that I did not feel the time was right for West Jordan to consider splitting from Jordan School District and forming their own West Jordan School District. I layed out my reasons in this article (http://www.robsblog.org/blog/content/view/70/97/). You may ask what has changed since then to make me the swing vote on a 4-3 decision by the city council to place the issue on the ballot for this November. I want to do my best to answer that question.

Item #1 that has changed: the special session of the legislature. Many of the cities and the counties were counting on the legislature to meet and rectify many of the problems created by SB30 http://le.utah.gov/~2007/bills/sbillint/sb0030.htm that created more issues than solving them. In fact, the governor gave four issues for the legislature to meet in special session to address:

• Equalization. How to equalize the costs of capital projects (i.e. building schools) across counties or the state so the burden of building schools is borne more equally across all of us since education of our children is a common concern whether we have children in the system or not. RESULT: No action. Formed a committee to look into it.

• Animal cruelty. RESULT: No action. Wait until January to decide whether to consider it again or not.

• Modification of the school district creation bill. RESULT: Didn't touch it. Instead, they addressed how to benefit some issues of concern to residents in on the east side (Draper's Suncrest community and the fate for Cottonwood High - see below for details). The school district creation issues were left unchanged; along with equalization, it was one of the primary reasons for the special session.

• Consider an issue in Garfield county regarding an expansion of their correctional facilities. RESULT: passed. Well, they tackled one out of four issues they were given to deal with - at least that's something (but not exactly a winning season if you start with a 1-4 record).
  

It appears the governor had a hard lesson to learn - count the votes before calling the session, even if it appears to all the public that it is a no-brainer that these things need fast action before the train hits the car stalled on the tracks.

Now let's take a look at what they DID address: 

• Made it EASIER for a city or group of cities to form their own school districts by lowering the threshold population from 65,000 to 50,000 UNDER THE SAME FLAWED LAW. Who does this benefit? Instead of clarifying the fundamentals, we made it possible for more to enter into the fog who may be even less capable of supporting a new district than a large city like West Jordan with 100,000 people as a baseline.
  
  
• Made it so Murray School District wouldn't automatically take over Cottonwood High School, which they have no use for and have announced they would close. So the STATE, not local government, decides what to do for a specific school that the majority of legislators, perhaps from St. George or Logan, have no connection with. Is this not exactly like the Federal Government making decisions in Washington on preserving land in the west with no actual knowledge of what they think they are preserving? Did this issue affect all of the state or even all of the county in answering the unknowns with splitting districts? NO, it just relieves a sticking point for people living on the EAST side of the valley.
  
  
• Passed a bill that addresses the concerns of Draper residents whose houses straddle Jordan and Alpine School District's boundaries so they can keep their kids in the schools of their choice. Again, does this address an issue faced by all those involved in the breakup of the Jordan School District? NO, it just benefits a very small group of people living on the EAST side of the valley to alleviate a concern they have. What about the issues facing hundreds of thousands of west siders? No action.
  
  
• Purposely excluded the County Council from putting on the brakes for the entire split issue by changing the rules. By modifying the percent of involved government bodies representing those who have to approve the issue for the ballot to 80% of those affected, they cut the county out of the loop and let the east side residents able to control their destiny without interference from anyone else.
  
  

What is the common thread in these legislative actions? Well, if you are represented by the east side's legislative officials, you can pretty much count on getting what you need to do what you want, no matter what the consequences might be for someone else. But wait! What about Moab and Ogden and other state locations that don't have a dog in this fight. Why would they vote with the east side's legislators at the expense of the question of "can you just clarify this issue for us before we sink money and our kid's futures into this process no matter where it takes place?" That is a question every Utahn ought to be asking themselves - there is a question of power and who holds it and how it is used to influence others in our "state" government and, to this individual at this point in time, seems to heavily favor one area and disregard the needs of others with equally valid claims for assistance on the same issue.

Lesson learned: don't count on the legislature to provide immediate relief for really sticky issues they caused in a prior legislative session. We have all seen this coming since the east side began work in earnest to break away a year ago. Did this really catch any legislator by surprise - such that the governor of the state made the unusual step of calling a special session, dragging people from the four corners of the state to deal with what he apparently considered an emergency - that they could not have had some refinements or solutions in place other than dealing with Cottonwood High School and Draper on a STATEWIDE level? As long as the status quo exists in the state legislature (guaranteed until at least Novemember of next year), West Jordan, don't expect your fortunes to change dramatically when it comes to equal and fair treatment by the body of the legislature.