Utah school system to split into three districts

Utah’s largest public school district is preparing to split into three separate entities and divvy up its outstanding debt after voters approved the move in November.

A timeline on the Alpine School District’s website indicates Utah County officials will establish boundaries for the districts in April, with voters in November electing school board members, who will take office in January 2026. The districts will launch services for students in July 2027. 

The split follows the Nov. 5 passage of Proposition 11 with 57.1% of the vote and Proposition 14 with 61.5%, according to Utah County official election results.

The Alpine school system had $524 million of outstanding bonds, including $319 million of general obligation debt, as of June 30, according to its fiscal 2024 annual comprehensive financial report.

“Alpine School District’s outstanding bond liability amounts will be divided between the newly created districts proportionately according to Utah state statute,” a district spokesman said in an email.

Legislation signed into law this year by Gov. Spencer Cox includes provisions for the treatment of outstanding and approved, but unissued bonds, and debt payments by reorganized districts.

Alpine’s latest debt sale was in 2022, a $25.7 million general obligation taxable refunding bond issue rated triple-A by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Ratings based on the state of Utah’s school district bond guarantee program. The district also has triple-A underlying ratings from both agencies, according to the official statement. 

In November 2022, Orem, Utah, voters rejected a proposal to create its own district, which would have entailed taking on about $105 million of Alpine’s outstanding debt. At the same time, Alpine District voters turned down a $595 million bond issue to build and upgrade schools.

Alpine serves about 84,000 students from several northern Utah County communities in 61 elementary, 14 junior high, and 11 high schools, along with seven special purpose schools.