The district’s board of education approved the purchase of 12 acres in Midway at its meeting Dec. 17.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sold the land to the district for $4,740,000. The parcel is along Michie Lane, south of the current Midway Elementary building.
Superintendent Paul Sweat said the need for the new building is clear.
“It’s definitely overcrowded,” he said. “We have students in eight portables that surround the main building. We know that it cannot be a long-term plan for elementary children in Midway.”
He said the land purchase shouldn’t be taken as a signal of imminent construction.
“I’m proposing for the board tonight to take some steps to shore up the future in Midway and purchase a piece of property that will allow us to build a new elementary school in Midway when the time is right,” he said.
Board member Tom Hansen said he thought the purchase this month would benefit Midway families far into the future.
“We were disappointed that the bond failed back in 2019,” he said. “From there, it was up in the air on what the plan and the strategy for the elementary school in Midway is and was, and today, that puts [it] to rest: There will be a new elementary school.”
Hansen is referring to the proposed $150 million bond that would have paid for both the county’s second high school and the new elementary school.
That bond failed when it was presented to county voters five years ago, so instead, the district turned to lease revenue bonds, which don’t require voter approval.
In 2022, the school board approved $150 million in lease revenue bonds to build the high school. A year later, it chose a contractor who presented a $170 million bid for construction.
Construction on the newly named Iron Horse High School continues west of Heber. The school will welcome its first students for the 2026-27 school year.
