City School System Study Sought

Fairhope, Alabama 

 

Fairhope High School

LOCAL SCHOOLS BEING SHORT-CHANGED?

A new non profit organization called  'Hope 4 Fairhope City Schools' has been promoting the possibility of an independent city of Fairhope school system, similar to those formed in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach in recent years.  Carol Mackey is organizer, according to public records.

Reasons being cited are:

1. Insufficient Funding. Fairhope schools consistently get less money back from Baldwin County Public Schools than the community pays in.

2. No local input. Time to stand on our own and make educational decisions locally without county bureaucracy.

3. Losing teachers. We are losing educators to city systems that can pay more and better support education in classrooms.

4. Growth. Fairhope citizens pay for increasing numbers of students in the Fairhope feeder pattern due to unregulated county growth -- draining local resources.

FEASIBILITY STUDY SOUGHT

Donations are being sought to help fund a feasibility study to determine how the new system would be financed by the city. The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA) has been proposed for the study.

MAYOR WEIGHS IN

When asked about it by the Times, mayor Sullivan said she had met once with members of the organization, but was not sure a city school system is a good idea.

Sullivan:  "I would need to see the study and the numbers and then validate the information in the study. I am not sure the City can financially support a school system without a significant increase in property taxes and do not think the majority of our population wants a tax increase."

The mayor said members of the city council had been contacted about helping finance the proposed study too. 

In 2010, Dr. Ira Harvey completed a similar feasibility study (click): additional revenue would have been needed then.

Hope4FCS proposal.