Before the district split and economic downturn, Jordan School District (JSD) was a leading school district in Utah.
JSD has a new main goal to reset its budget to function under the economic stress, according to Bevan Wasden, Area Assistant Superintendent.
“We are working to provide the education we have with limited resources,” said Wasden.
Compared to other districts now, JSD is just another district. But it still has something others don’t. JSD has the most national board certified teachers in the state.
JSD is always looking to provide ways to improve the teachers and further their education. They encourage teachers to get their National Board Certification of Teaching (NBCT) status.
“We have teachers that go to extra work to teach students,” said Steven Dunham, spokesman for JSD.
JSD aims to have all the test scores of students above the state average, giving them the highest quality education they can provide, according to Dunham.
Granite School District (GSD) has ACT scores that average at 21.0. The state average is 21.8, according to the Granite School’s website (www.graniteschools.org).
JSD has all of its test score averages above the average, even with the constantly moving averages, according to Dunham.
“Jordan and Granite districts have been named by ‘Forbes Magazine’ as tied for the second best large city education available in the United States,” said Wasden.
With 1,000 new students every year, JSD has to build an elementary school every year to keep up, according to Wasden.
GSD is now the largest district in the state of Utah since the split of Jordan and Canyons. JSD is closest to Nebo, Alpine, Weber, and Davis in size, according to Dunham.
“Two years ago JSD was one of the largest and best school districts in the nation. We’re the fastest growing district in Utah with 1,000 new students every year,” said Dunham.
Over the past five years, JSD has done what it can to lower class sizes and get more teachers in the system.
In the 08-09 school year, 187,811.0 semester hours of concurrent enrollment were earned with 27,444 students, according to the Annual Report of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
On the downside, JSD has the highest deficit for any school district in Utah. This is primarily due to the district split, according to Wasden.
“State cuts, district division, and building costs are all causes for the deficit,” said Dunham. Having the highest deficit out of all the districts in Utah, JSD has done what they can to keep employee morale at the highest they can get it, according to Dunham.
JSD also looks to improve on the business aspect on the west side. More businesses means a better economy and more stability in the district budget.
“We aim to catch and pass the East side [economically] in eight to ten years,” said Wasden.
The strategies used to cooperate with the economic problems going on is based on a compilation of what all the districts in the state use to cooperate, according to Dunham.
“We always want to implement others’ best practices to improve ourselves,” he said.