PAC Meeting at Morningside re: traditional (including K) and DLI: October 14th, 6 PM
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Granite Parents Demand Accountability: District Pays Executives in Top Percentiles While Closing High-Performing Schools to “Save Money”
Salt Lake City, UT — September 24, 2025 — Granite School District is moving forward with a recommendation to close two of its highest-performing elementary schools, Morningside and Eastwood, citing cost savings as the justification. Parents and community members are raising alarm, arguing that the closures are based on incomplete data, ignore the city’s expected growth, and come at the same time that Granite’s top administrators are among the highest paid in the nation.
According to the most recent payroll data available from 2022, Granite’s superintendent was paid $374,490, and its treasurer/business administrator received $415,777 — more than the New York City Department of Education Chancellor, who oversees over one million students. Granite serves about 55,000 students, a fraction of the size, yet pays its top administrators salaries that place them in the 95th to 99th percentile nationally. At the same time, starting teachers in Granite earn about $59,700, below both the state and national averages. Parents argue that the contrast is unacceptable: while Utah consistently ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending, the Granite School District Board continues to approve executive contracts that divert scarce taxpayer dollars away from classrooms.
The closures target two schools that are far from failing. Morningside Elementary is operating at 87% capacity, is ranked 3rd of 51 elementary schools in the Granite District according to SchoolDigger, and holds a 9/10 rating on GreatSchools. Eastwood Elementary is a Gold-Certified STEM school, ranked 5th of 51 Granite elementary schools, and also rated 9/10 by GreatSchools. Both schools enjoy strong community support and are academic anchors in their neighborhoods.
Parents are especially critical of the Planning Advisory Committee (PAC) study being used to justify the closures. The report relies on a single year of data rather than offering a forward-looking analysis. It makes no allowance for the thousands of condos and high-density housing projects currently under construction in Salt Lake City, nor for the growth that state and regional projections forecast over the next decade. The Salt Lake City–Provo area is expected to grow by nearly 16 percent in population over the next ten years, yet Granite has not factored that growth into its decision-making.
Adding to community concerns, the head of the PAC committee, Steve Hogan, also serves on Granite’s Real Estate Committee, which is responsible for selling surplus district properties. Parents note that while the PAC is tasked with finding the best solution for children, the real estate committee has a mandate to sell land to the highest bidder. Eastwood Elementary, one of the schools slated for closure, sits on what is arguably the most commercially valuable parcel among the nine properties considered in the study. The dual roles raise questions about whether financial interests in property sales are being prioritized over the needs of students.
“Granite is paying administrators in the top one percent nationwide while closing schools in the top five percent districtwide,” said one parent. “This isn’t about saving money. It’s about misplaced priorities, misuse of taxpayer dollars, and decisions being made on incomplete data.”
Parents are calling for a public audit of executive pay, administrative overhead, the PAC’s methodology, and the district’s real estate practices. They argue that thriving neighborhood schools should not be closed based on short-sighted analysis or conflicting interests, and that taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability in how education dollars are spent.
Media Contact:
Venessa Dobson
media@savemorningside.org