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"...a significant number of families may choose to send their children to private schools because they wish to avoid educational associations for their children with large public school districts and/or large public schools."
- From 'School and School District Size Relationships: Costs, Results, Minorities, and Private School Enrollments' by Robert W. Jewell, University of Chicago
Rep. Cox's Response to the Utah County Commission's Decision
Tuesday, August 24, the Utah County Commission denied the request to place the Alpine School District division proposal on the ballot. This statement was issued by Representative David Cox shortly thereafter:
"I wish we could have had the open debate. Its hard to see the hundreds of hours invested in this lost, mainly because of misunderstandings. If we could have had several debates well attended and reported on, I think there was a 50/50 chance we could have won the election. I am absolutely convinced that the new district could have been successful. Our tax base is rapidly increasing and the per-pupil amounts would have been the same as they are now anyway. One teacher gave me a solution this summer I hadn't thought of though. If the District were to prepare for an eventual division in their planning, and then when ready ask the County Commission to put it on the ballot, it would work out a lot better. However, the sooner the better, because we are falling farther behind every year in buildings and I fear we are going to end up seeing our kids bussed as far as Orem to go to school just as they are doing in Jordan and Granite Districts now. One last thing, though some people joined this district division movement because of one issue or another, it was never fundamentally an indictment of the District or its administration. To me it was and still is about size. Alpine is better than comparably sized districts nationwide because of its employees and parents. However the bigger a district gets, beyond a certain size, the more difficult it is to operate efficiently and effectively. Most importantly, the harder it is politically to build the schools needed at the size they need to be. Big districts equal big schools and as the National Association of Secondary Principals has concluded, No school should be bigger than 1000 students. Schools that are too big cost the community more in lower student participation and graduation rates, higher crime, gang, drug, and alcohol abuse rates, and costs due to bussing and increased traffic loads."
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