Granite School District (Utah)

Granite School District conducts an educational program for kindergarten and grades one through twelve, organized into elementary, junior high and senior high schools. Granite School District is the second largest of Utah's 40 school districts, serving 70,649 students in 90 schools. The district operates 9 accredited high schools (grades 9-12), 15 junior high schools (grades 7-8), and 63 elementary schools (grades K-6), along with several special program schools and educational centers. Granite School District is committed to providing the best educational opportunity possible to every student enrolled in the district. Reported enrollment for the 2001-2002 school year is 70,649. Granite District comprises approximately 300 square miles in Salt Lake County and includes several urban and suburban communities. The district spans the Salt Lake Valley from the Wasatch Mountains on the east to the Oquirrh Mountains on the west, with a population of 375,000. District boundaries resemble a dumb bell shape with the Salt Lake City District to the north and Murray City and Jordan districts to the south. District offices are located in Salt Lake City.

The district is governed by an elected Board of Education comprised of five board members. Each board member is independently elected from a geographic precinct in the district. Board members serve for a period of four years, at which time they may run for re-election. School Board elections are held in November in conjunction with the general election. Board members elect a president and vice president at the time new members are sworn into office. The board directly appoints two principal officers, the superintendent and the business administrator/treasurer. Both positions are established and required by state law. Other administrative employees are recommended by the superintendency and are then approved by the board. The district is also subject to the general oversight of the Utah State Office of Education. This includes a budget approval process that is compliance oriented and is more ministerial in nature than substantive. The district is fiscally independent.

County commissioners on July 3, 1905, approved a resolution appointing the county school representatives from districts 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 as members of the Board of Education of the new Granite School District. The board was directed and authorized to meet on Monday, July 10, 1905, at 2 p.m. at the Central School House in Farmers Ward in School Representative Precinct No. 2. The county school law provided that the county superintendent was to serve simultaneously as county superintendent as well as superintendent of both Granite District and Jordan District. The new Granite Board of Education employed a clerk of the board and three supervisors (northwest section, northeast section, and southern section) to oversee the district's educational program.

Granite School District is under the direction of a five-member Board of Education, with day-to-day operations overseen by the Superintendent of Schools. Included in the superintendent's office are the business administrator (business services) and four assistant superintendents who oversee Support Services, Instructional Services, School Services, and Program Services. Granite contracts with 3,562 full-time certified teachers and over 1,400 full-time support staff.

Granite District was formed through the consolidation of 22 of the 36 small school districts in Salt Lake County--districts 24, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 46, 47, 48, 50, 53, 55, 59, and 64. The respective boards transferred all school property to the Board of Trustees of Granite School District. The board changed school names in 1908. The original boundaries, which corresponded to the boundaries of the Granite Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, have shifted through the years due to the annexation process. Enrollment in Granite School District increased nearly five times between 1960 and 1970, from approximately 13,000 to more than 63,000.