ORANGE BEACH, Ala. – It would not be financially sound for Orange Beach to try to start its own school district, according to figures presented Tuesday night by the Baldwin County Board of Education in the cafeteria of Orange Beach Elementary School.
“We are not opposing them,” Superintendent Alan Lee said. “If they choose to leave, we will respect that. We wanted to present them with the numbers we came up with. I consider it unbiased information. The bottom line is that we are better together.”
But several of the residents and leaders of Orange Beach vocally disagreed and reiterated their desire to pull out of the 30,000-student county district and form their own. It is estimated an Orange Beach district would have just more than 800 students K-12.
Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said it only strengthened his resolve for separate schools. He did not like the meeting’s format that did not allow school officials to answer questions from residents. The meeting was actually a school board work session. School board president Norm Moore suspended the rules to allow for public comment.
“I hope you will come to our town hall meeting and defend your allegations,” Kennon said. “Lets have a real discussion and stop the propaganda.”
When asked after the school board work session if he would attend the Orange Beach town hall meeting, Lee was reticent.
“I haven’t decided,” Lee said. “I have no intention to get into what the mayor termed a ‘discussion.’”
Facts and figures
The school district took current totals and determined a separate Orange Beach school district would have a total 816 students. For that figure, the state would only pay for 46 teachers, just 11 at the high school level.
“The smaller number of teachers would decrease the variety of core courses as well as decreasing the number of electives that could be offered,” Baldwin County Schools director of academic services Pam Henson said.
School district executive principal for high school Don Blanchard said the new school would be classified as a 2A high school. The nearest opponents for the football team would be St. Luke and Mobile Christian, which are 63 and 64 miles away; respectively. Several district opponents would be more than 100 miles away. Choctaw would be a 170-mile one-way trip.
“The travel expenses would be huge,” said Blanchard. He said the cost of taking one bus to the closer schools in Mobile would be almost $250.
School financial director John Wilson said Orange Beach would face numerous economic hurdles. A small student population combined with a city of high-priced housing would start the district off in a hole.
The state figures out funding based on the number of students in a district. The Alabama education funding system also has a ‘10-mill match.’ From the state funding, each district must deduct the equivalent of a 10-mill tax levy.
Orange Beach is home to some of the most expensive property in the county. The city’s ‘match’ would be around $7 million, but the 816 students would only amount to $4.2 million in state funding. That would leave Orange Beach owing the state almost $3 million a year.
That money would have to be made up through higher taxes. Wilson estimated the city would have to raise taxes by about 8 mills just to get the per-student funding equivalent to what the county is now spending.
The presentation only dealt with operational funding questions. A startup school district would have to spend millions of additional dollars to build a middle school, a high school and the associated athletic facilities. Orange Beach already has an elementary school. A separate district could use that facility, but under state law, the city would be saddled with the $3 million in debt associated with the cost of the building.
All of the costs of starting a separate district didn’t faze many of the residents.
“We’re comfortable with the numbers,” Orange Beach councilman Jerry Johnson said. “We’re willing to fund our schools at the top level.”
Mother of two school-age children, Rebecca Wilson said the county’s graduation rate is pathetic and the city would do better with their own children.
“You say we are better together,” Wilson said. “I don’t see it.”
“This isn’t Orange Beach versus the county,” Orange Beach Councilman Jeff Boyd said. “We feel left out. Elberta has a middle school. We don’t. We go to church in our neighborhood but our kids have to drive 15 miles to high school.
“We are fighting for our community and what we believe.”