As the new school year gets underway, Alpine School District eyes preparations for emerging split
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- An Alpine School District bus is pictured on Aug. 14, 2025.
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- Alpine School District interim superintendent Rob Smith works at his desk inside the district’s main office in American Fork on Aug. 19, 2025.
The 2025-26 school year is off and running, and for the Alpine School District, it’s the second to last academic year in its current form.
Now that classes are back in session, interim superintendent Rob Smith said the district has its eyes set on ensuring that the looming reconfiguration is executed as painlessly as possible.
“We’re now going to pivot to be intentional about (the) reconfiguration,” he said in an interview with the Daily Herald earlier this month. “Teams are looking at organizing in ways to support the three new districts — whether that’s literal changes, whether that’s developing scenarios, frameworks (and) ideas for the new school boards that will be elected in November.”
Smith said over the next two years, the Alpine School District will focus on goals that prioritize student learning, supporting the creation of three districts by ensuring equitable resources are allocated amongst them, supporting its educators and engaging with parents.
“Schools exist to support parents in the education of their children,” he said. “So that will be an emphasis that you hear from me as superintendent everywhere I speak or have the opportunity (to speak); it’s to validate our parents’ role as the primary educators for their children.”
Beginning July 1, 2027, three new districts with new names and boundaries will become operational and the Alpine School District will dissolve.
Last November, Utah County residents voted to create a new district to serve students in Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland, Lehi and the Utah County portion of Draper (tentatively known as the Aspen Peaks School District). In the northwest part of the county, schools in Cedar Fort, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield and Saratoga Springs will become part of a district (tentatively known as Lake Mountain School District).
The cities of Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Vineyard have also united to form their own district (tentatively the Timpanogos School District).
On Nov. 4, in the upcoming municipal election, residents will vote to select new board of education members to fill a total of 21 seats across the three emerging school districts.
New board members are slated to take office once the county certifies election results, which could be as early as late November.
Smith anticipates the newly elected board members will not want to waste any time rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.
Current Alpine School District leadership will make a list of recommendations for the new boards, according to Smith. Among the recommendations are selecting leadership roles for each school board, adopting a meeting schedule and beginning the process of searching for new superintendents to lead each respective district.
Smith said the hope is that new superintendents are selected by early February 2026.
“So that’s the recommended timeline,” he said. “Our team will recommend a lot of things, (but) school boards will do what they feel is best for them.”
New board of education members will also make the call on whether temporary names for each district will remain or change, although Smith feels the tentative school district names align with the respective areas they’ll serve.
“The names make sense,” he said. “Whether the school boards affirm and accept those names or whether they change them — the boards will decide that.”
According to the Utah County Government’s website, the future school district division isn’t expected to significantly impact tax collection or school funding.
Most local education funding comes from the state’s weighted pupil unit, or WPU, which provides equal funding per student in Utah, regardless of their location.
Regarding local property tax funding, new school boards will be tasked with setting their property tax rate based on their respective priorities and projected needs.
Teacher pay and benefits will be protected by state law for one year after the split, though new school boards can set their own policies.
At this time, the Alpine School District does not anticipate any immediate changes to its day-to-day operations.
“We want students every day in every classroom to have success,” Smith said. “And if they don’t feel, they don’t see, they don’t even know that a reconfiguration is going on — that’s what success looks like to me, because that means they’ll be focused on learning.”
The Alpine School District has created an information page on its website for those who want to stay informed as the reconfiguration progresses.
