During summer break the city of Orem mentioned a new change of district, also known as Prop 2. Alpine district holds 86 schools from elementary, junior high, high school and this does not include the “Special purpose schools”. The Alpine School District reaches these cities in Utah: Alpine, American Fork, Cedar Fort, Cedar Hills, Eagle Mountain, Fairfield, Highland, Lehi, Lindon, Orem, Pleasant Grove, Saratoga Springs, Vineyard and as well as a portion of Draper. The idea for Prop 2 in mind was to create an Orem district dedicated to only schools in the Orem boundaries such as: Timpanogos High School, Mountain View High School, Orem High School etc. If Prop 2 were passed, in all Orem would be cut down all the way to 17 schools in the district. It is also mentioned that Vineyard and Lindon might also be invited to the Orem district. In the next voting ballot, Orem residents may vote for a new Orem district or against it. Most Utahns have already received their voting ballots.
Some reasons why Orem residents might have voted for Prop 2 is because Orem district might have the opportunity for better teachers, better facilities, increased funds, smaller classes, happier teachers, better schools, better academics and a possible raise in salary for teachers. Some people feel if we don’t make changes nothing will improve for the future. But others feel if we do decide to make these big changes and the costs are more than expected, it could be a total disaster.
Some major reasons why people do not want Prop 2 is because some are scared extra curricular activities will be removed and fear of taxes being significantly raised. Another reason is according to different news articles 91.5% oppose the proposition. If this is the case we could potentially lose great teachers.
Based on lots of research there have been many false claims about Prop 2 that have been proven wrong. Here are some false accusations about Prop 2: (1) “Taxes will increase by 56%” This false claim that says this is an inaccurate calculation, the main data they were using was taken clear back in 2017. Another reason this is false is because the person who made these calculations included schools that no longer exist today and were very expensive. (2) “Schools will be removed from the district if you don’t vote for Prop 2” The next claim made was most likely to prompt people to just vote for Prop 2 in fear of a school being removed. (3) “Utah taxpayers Association was bribed or bought off.” This claim is false because even if they were, legally they would not be allowed to accept the money. (4) “The city recorder violated the law by sending emails about a council meeting promoting Prop 2.” The last accusation about Prop 2 is false because in the Orem City Council meeting they streamed the majority of the meeting to the public but there were 2 parts of the stream that got blacked out due to the council passing 2 resolutions. They did this because there were too many false claims that people were told.