The Alpine School District Board of Education has received its first presentation on a feasibility study that will explore reconfiguring the school district.

Tuesday night’s presentation during the board’s work session was the first step in completing the feasibility study, with more community engagement meetings scheduled for next month.

The board voted to pick MGT Education, a company from Florida, to administer the feasibility study last September.

A feasibility study was conducted in 2022 to explore the possibility of an independent Orem School District splitting the city away from Alpine School District.

That study came before Proposition 2 hit the ballots in November 2022, when a majority voted against creating an Orem-only school district at the time.

Representatives from MGT presented six options for reconfiguring the school district with no official recommendations being made quite yet.

Lance Richards, educational performance manager with MGT, said the company has spoken to about 80 community stakeholders and has developed some key considerations for reconfiguration.

Some of the considerations include recognizing the challenges of a large district, the tax impact and the impact on students — specifically special needs and gifted students — as well as district employees.

Richards stressed the importance of considering students and teachers when reconfiguring.

“When you move forward in reconfiguration, you should be more concerned about what you do for the students that have the greatest need, to make sure that they don’t get lost in the shuffle,” he said.

He added that if a split were to happen but is not executed well, it could lead to losing talented teachers and district employees.

The first option presented was to not split the district, the second and third were options for a two-district split and the remaining scenarios were for a third-district split.

Richards said with each split option, they ensured that municipalities stayed together and communities weren’t split into separate districts.

According to Richards, the option of not splitting this district is viable, though projections show that in 10 years, Alpine School District enrollment would be around 97,000 students. That option also would be financially viable based on revenue projections.

Two-district split options

The company presented two different options that would split the current district into separate east and west districts, with the difference between the two being where to place Lehi.

One option would have an east district with Orem, Vineyard, Lindon, Pleasant Grove, Alpine, Cedar Hills, Highland and American Fork. The west district would have Cedar Fort, Fairfield, Eagle Mountain, Saratoga Springs and Lehi. Richards noted that this was the most equitable option for student enrollment, with the potential districts being about the same size.

The second option would place Lehi in the east district, making that district significantly larger.

In both options, when comparing taxable value, revenue and expenses based on 2023 finances, an east district would be operating in a deficit, though the deficit would be less in the scenario with Lehi being in the east.

Richards said there are many factors in the finances of a hypothetical split, noting that the numbers could change in the future and there are ways to overcome a deficit, such as increasing revenue or decreasing expenditures.

Three-district split options

The final three options involved splitting Alpine into three separate districts, such as west, east and central. In all three options, a west district included Cedar Fort, Fairfield, Saratoga Springs and Eagle Mountain.

The first three-district scenario would create an east district with Orem, Vineyard, Lindon and Pleasant Grove. A central district would contain Lehi, Alpine, Highland, American Fork and Cedar Hills. In this option, the east district would be the smallest and the central the largest.

A second option would place Pleasant Grove in the central district, with Orem, Vineyard and Lindon being in their own district.

Lastly, the final option would create a Lehi-only district with Alpine, Highland, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Orem, Vineyard, Lindon and Pleasant Grove being placed into one.

In each of these options, an east district would be in a deficit, though options 1 and 2 would be relatively small. The final option would put an east district into a similar deficit to a two-district split. The central district option also would have a minimal deficit, but a Lehi-only district would not.

Next steps

MGT will be hosting community feedback sessions March 12-14, where they will use a survey to collect suggestions and feedback from community members on district reconfiguration. Additional details on time and place weren’t immediately provided.

After MGT gathers more community feedback, a recommendation may be made to the board around the beginning of April.

If a split were to occur, Richards said a timeline is still unclear and contingent on state code and any changes made in the Legislature, but he indicated he could foresee the execution of a split taking two to three years.

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