Here is the statement from the South Jordan City Mayor. For the supporting documents he mentions please visit his page. Jordan School District Statement 21 July, 2014 Dear South Jordan Residents, During the past several weeks, there has been a great deal of interest expressed by the media, and many of you, concerning the possibility of parting ways with the Jordan School District and the formation of our own South Jordan School District. I believe that now is not the time to form our own district; however, I do strongly assert that any city, regardless of size, should forever retain the right to break ties with a larger district. Therefore, I will continue to make the case to the legislature to maintain those laws that allow a city council to place district separation on the ballot, if necessary. After all, the only way to ensure that all member-cities are treated with parity is that membership remain a voluntary relationship. The right course is for us to remain a member of the JSD. This decision and my opinion have not come easily. There are many good arguments on both sides of this issue. But I want to share some of my thinking and some of the research I have done in forming my opinion. I have attached, in the comments, images that were the source of my data. Much of this came from a third party, the Utah Tax Payers association, which support the numbers Jordan School District have provided me. When one ponders a separation from a district, the first thing one has to decide is under what circumstances would a split be worthwhile. As we’ve seen from the recent split by the Canyons, district disruption can be very costly. Some estimates put that split at a cost of $30 Million dollars; others have it as high as $60 Million. There is also the intangible disruptions of education to special needs students, as well as vocational and arts programs. Eventually, these programs can be outsourced, contracted, or duplicated, but for the intermediate period, some students would suffer during a district separation. Much has been written about the pros and cons of belonging to a large district vs. belonging to a small district. For South Jordan to form its own district would mean forfeiture of all the “pros” on the side of belonging to a larger district. Clearly, the cost of a separation comes at a high premium. So, what are the conditions that would make a split worth the cost? For me, the following reasons would justify the formation of our own district (listed in order of seriousness): 1) The infringement of personal liberties, religious discrimination, racism, political bullying, censoring of free political thought, or any other malignant bigotry. 2) District policies that pose exceptional risk to our children’s physical well-being. 3) District policies that create inferior educational outcomes. 4) Improper fiscal management policies that are so malignant that a separation would save residents money above and beyond the cost of the split, and the cost of obtaining new facilities, programs, etc. 5) District policies of spending that create a taxation-rate well above the comfort-level of the residents, or policies that waste funds on administrative salaries, administration buildings, lobbyists, or other non-educational expenditures. 6) A verifiable disparity among member cities in educational services provided. By verifiable, I mean that real data would support that our city is not being treated equally in the district. While this list is not exhaustive, these are the basic reasons I could see a district separation as justifiable and worth the expense a split would incur. Now, let’s go item by item and see how the district is doing. 1) The infringement of personal liberties, religious discrimination, racism, political bullying, censoring of free political thought, or any other malignant bigotry. I have heard of no instances where the district has engaged in these kinds of behaviors or policies. 2) District policies that pose exceptional risk to our children’s physical well-being. The district experienced a tragedy earlier this year when a child was killed by a school bus. Steps have been taken to provide even higher safety, including changes in policy to drop students off on the side of the street in which they live. It should be noted that district policy, had it been followed, could have prevented this tragedy and that it may have been a lapse in driver judgment that contributed to this tragedy. In other words, it wasn’t the district policies that led to this tragedy. The opinion of this Mayor is that the district has appropriate safety polices, combined with the willingness to alter those policies as circumstances demand. 3) District policies that create inferior educational outcomes. For the money, our student’s test scores are good compared to the rest of the State and good compared to the Nation. For example, our 10th graders take an ACT plan test (prep test) with their average score of 17.6, where the national average is 17.2. Our AP kids get a 3 or above 70.3% of the time. The national average is 60.5%. The graduation rate is above average for the State. When you take into account that we have the lowest spending per student (I’ll get to more of this in a minute), our educational numbers and outcomes are doing well. One could argue that we are living below our potential, but then, doing better may require more money. 4) Improper fiscal management policies that are so malignant that a separation would save residents money above and beyond the cost of the split, and the cost of obtaining new facilities, programs, etc. This one is pretty simple. A separation for South Jordan, right now, would place all of our schools at full-capacity, and we’d immediately need a high-school. Bingham High School cannot hold all of our students. We would lose Herriman and Copper Hills High Schools. A new High School can cost in the range of $60 Million - $90 Million dollars! Financially, South Jordan would lose, and lose BIG. The feasibility study will be released sometime at the end of July, and many of you can see this for yourselves. Another tidbit from the study was this: South Jordan currently comprises 23% of the students to the district. We also contribute 24% of the taxes to the district. In other words, we are almost contributing exactly what we are consuming. The feasibility study will shine more light on this fact, but if finances are your main reason to split, you should reconsider staying with the JSD. I need to remind the reader, too, that Daybreak is only 1/7th complete. With the starter homes, churches, and playgrounds aplenty, we will see more kids enter the city, and come to Daybreak. We’re going to need a lot more schools and a lot more teachers. 5) District policies of spending that create a taxation-rate well above the comfort-level of the residents, or policies that waste funds on administrative salaries, administration buildings, lobbyists, or other non-educational expenditures. To explore taxation issues, and cost per student, one must first start at the “taxable value per student” number. Why? Imagine you lived in “The Villages” the southern Florida retirement juggernaut, with virtually zero children. Their taxable value per student is very high. Let’s say they have 100 Million dollars in taxable value and they only have five kids live there. That means that each resident only pays a small amount per child to educate those kids. Their tax rate is very low regardless of what they pay their teachers. Now let’s explore the opposite. Let’s say we have a city that is basically the embodiment of the 80s novel “The Lord of the Flies”, (a society of only children). The Lord of the Flies township has one structure worth $1000 and yet has 1000 children. That means that they would have to tax that structure at 100% just to raise the money for each child to get $1 worth of pencils. The tax rate in a low tax value per student city should be very high. Attached (in the facebook comments) are the tables of the taxable value per student. As you can imagine is the case, Park City has 2.3 Million dollars of taxable value per student. Why? They have a lot of big homes (2nd homes, in many cases) and fewer kids. That means that Park City should have low taxes for schools. And, in fact, they do have low taxes, the third lowest in the State. On the other end of the spectrum you see Tooele. Tooele has one of the lowest taxable values per student in the State. Tooele has lots of kids without very many commercial assets. The result? Tooele has highest tax rate in the State: 0.009593% Now, where are Jordan School District’s numbers? Our numbers reveal that we are in the bottom third in value per student (not good news). Remember Park City? 2.3M? In contrast, we only have $246,844 per student! By the way, Tooele is at $203,000, so JSD, is only slightly better than Tooele. Why? Jordan School district has a boat-load of kids! It’s where all the new homes are, and young families. When one takes into account our current taxable value per student, logic would demand that we have one of the highest tax rates in the State. Where, in fact, we are taxed at 0.007132, which lines up almost exactly at our State Average (see table). What this means is that JSD is making due with less money. If you look at the spreadsheet provided by the Utah Tax Payers, (provided in comments), you’ll see that JSD has THE lowest “Instruction expense per student” in the entire State! When you consider that Utah is second only to Idaho in lowest spending per student, you have to come to the sober realization that we are pretty much at rock-bottom. To get tax savings from this district would be like a mosquito sucking blood from a mummy. If there are any readers who think we should spend MORE money per student, and that’s your reason to wish to split the district, then I think you have an honest argument to make. But if you are looking at it from the perspective of saving tax money, a split is not your ticket. We are already at rock-bottom in spending per student, and we don’t have much taxable base per student to draw upon. Frankly, Jordan School District is doing a good job of making a little go a long way. 6) A verifiable disparity among member cities in educational services provided. By verifiable, I mean that real data would support that our city is not being treated equally in the district. This area did hit a nerve with some on our council, including myself. Negotiations were tied up between Kennecott Land and the district for some time. It seemed neither would budge. But, I am glad to announce that the land HAS been purchased in Daybreak, and we expect schools to come along soon. I think that this perception of disparity has led the council to consider the formation of our own district. I will continue to work with the district to ensure that the schools that South Jordan needs are built in a timely manner to avoid this potential disparity. This perceived disparity is the driving force behind those who have suggested a split, but I am encouraged by those actions that have seemed to alleviate our concerns. So those are the six reasons to separate. I do not believe the district has failed in any of these areas in a significant way. Lastly, I need to remind the reader that Laura and I have four children who are and will be students of the JSD. We have been very happy with the education they have been getting at Eastlake Elementary. Our kids come home happy and smarter. A split would require the support of educators, and would necessitate a coalition of people who agree that the district is in trouble. I have yet to see that political movement materialize, and for good reason: Jordan School District is providing, for the money, an excellent educational experience. For these reasons, I think it’s in our own best-interest to stay with the district. Thanks for reading! David L. Alvord Mayor, South Jordan City
Posted on: Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:38:33 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015