Curtis Booker, Daily Herald

Utah County commissioners have taken another step toward splitting the current Alpine School District.

On March 12, commissioners revealed the proposed boundaries and board seats for the three new school districts to be situated across different regions of Utah County that make up Alpine School District in its present form.

At their meeting Wednesday, county commissioners voted unanimously in favor of adopting the boundary maps and board seats.

Mac Sims, the committee chair of all three redistricting committees, thanked the commission members for their role in the process, which incorporated many stakeholders and ensured varying opinions on the matter from the public were heard.

“I think the process has brought us a great outcome,” Sims said during the meeting.

Courtesy Utah County Government

County Commissioner Skyler Beltran agreed and thanked the committee for the hours of work and research that went into helping to shape the new districts.

“I think we came to good maps. And I think this will be great for our students moving forward,” Beltran said.

Wednesday’s vote to accept the new boundaries and seats for each new district is among numerous steps involved in forming the three new districts.

It follows the passage of Proposition 11 last November to create a new district in Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Hills, Highland, Lehi and the Utah County portion of Draper (tentatively known as the Central District) as well as the passage of Proposition 14 to create a west district of Cedar Fort, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield and Saratoga Springs (tentatively the Lake Mountain or West District).

Though residents in Orem, Lindon, Pleasant Grove and Vineyard were not permitted a vote on the matter, by default the four cities are forming their own district as well (tentatively the Timpanogos or South District).

Courtesy Utah County Government

Each district will have seven board seats.

In the Central District, Lehi will have more than half of the seats. Seat 3 will consist of Highland and a northeast portion of Lehi. Seat 4 encompasses much of Alpine and Cedar Hills, and American Fork will have Seat 7 and a portion of Seat 6.

The redistricting committee tasked with creating the boundary maps used 2023 population data from the University of Utah’s Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute to determine boundary choices.

In the West District, Eagle Mountain and Saratoga Springs will control most of the seats, though. Seat 1 will encompass the west portion of Eagle Mountain and Fairfield and Cedar Fort.

Orem will take four of the seven seats in the South District. Seat 1 includes a large portion of Pleasant Grove, while Seat 2 consists of Lindon and the southern portion of Pleasant Grove. Seat 3 contains all of Vineyard and a portion of Orem to the south.

Courtesy Utah County Government

County Commissioner Amelia Powers Gardner said more than 4,000 public comments were received during the process.

“Although setting these boundaries is the responsibility and the prerogative of the commission, we reached out to the local entities, school boards, to the interlocal groups, to the cities, to the citizens, and we answered emails and voicemails and text messages and Facebook (messages) from the public as they asked questions. We tried to address any concerns as best we could,” Powers Gardner said.

Additionally, the county commission also drew for the seats’ term lengths, with some seats having three-year terms and others five-year terms, depending on the district and the seat.

According to Utah state statute, Utah County and city officials had a deadline of April 1 to form the school board member boundaries.

The focus now turns to selecting new school board members.

The filing period for those interested in serving on one of the boards will open around the first week of June, followed by a primary election in August.

Voters will elect new board members in November, with winners taking office in January 2026.

During the following year, newly elected board members will choose permanent names for each respective district while also crafting policies, hiring staff and preparing to educate students.

Newly formed districts will be operational beginning with the 2027-28 school year.

Links to each of the approval boundary maps can be found at https://tinyurl.com/4ndv4mje.