What are your thoughts on the 3-way split of Alpine School District? - Last November voters in the West and Central areas voted to split Alpine School District into three new districts. Because I support conservative principles of smaller and more limited government, I generally favor smaller school districts over larger school districts. Therefore, once the Alpine School District is split into three smaller districts, these three smaller school districts can be superior to the current single larger school district, if we elect competent school boards to lead each new district. Some advantages of three smaller school districts (over the current massive school district) can be less wasteful spending on fewer bureaucratic layers of district administration and better representation with each school board member being responsible for one-half or one-third of the current number of schools. But as with most any big change, the devil will be in the details. My career negotiating complex business deals makes me the best candidate to negotiate the best deal for our new school district, to make sure students, families, teachers, staff, and taxpayers are all better off after the split. For example, the pay, benefits, and job satisfaction of our great teachers and staff can all get better in smaller districts, not worse, and the students in the smaller districts can have access to more resources and opportunities to learn and grow, not less. And instead of taxes going up in the new Timpanogos School District portion of the current school district, which is a false assumption that many at the school district are pushing, the truth is that property taxes can stay the same or even go down. Given that the property taxes raised will remain constant while the number of students continues to decline (a trend that has been steady for several years in the new Timpanogos School District boundaries), it's simply common sense that having the same property tax revenue with fewer and fewer students means we can lower taxes and still spend the same amount per student or we can keep property taxes the same and continually increase how much we spend per student. Either way, taxes don't need to go up - they can instead either stay the same or go down.