With a unanimous vote and a standing applause, The Gulf Shores City Council moved forward Monday on an "epic situation" by deciding to form its own city school system.
"Our kids deserve the best we can give them," Mayor Robert Craft said before the council voted before an overflowing crowd of mostly pro-city school supporters inside the council chambers. "We didn't come to this decision lightly. It's a significantly important decision for our community."
The vote begins what will likely be a long process of breaking away from the Baldwin County School System. A new Gulf Shores city school board, which will lead the negotiations with Baldwin County school officials, will be formed within the next month and will kick start the process.
Applications to become a member of the five-person board will be available on Oct. 16. The council will review each one. Plans are for the new school board to be introduced during the council's Nov. 27 meeting.
The board will likely hire a superintendent shortly after its formation.
"This is a first for all of us," said Angie Swiger, a Gulf Shores resident and a member of the seven-member Baldwin County School Board. "It's going to be a process for everyone. It's unchartered territory."
Indeed, the Gulf Shores decision is a first for Baldwin County. Though there are over 70 city school systems in Alabama, no previous breakaway effort in Baldwin County has been successful. Past attempts by Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Fairhope and Daphne have all come up short.
The Gulf Shores council's decision officially created the "Gulf Shores School System."
"It's the most important (decision) for me, personally, that I've been involved in," said Craft, mayor of Gulf Shores since 2008 and a city official since 2004.
The decision didn't come without questions from people attending the meeting. Questions included whether Common Core academic standards would apply within the new city school system and whether taxes might need to be raised to build new schools.
Also, Craft was asked why Orange Beach - the neighboring coastal city that has long shared school buildings with Gulf Shores -- wasn't jumping on board.
Craft acknowledged that past attempts to work with Orange Beach and the Baldwin County School System faltered, though officials have varying views on what happened.
The most recent attempt, which occurred last year, involved negotiations among leaders in both cities to create a special taxing district to pay for school needs, backed by a 3-mill property tax. That effort did not go anywhere, and Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon has said there was never anything imminent with that proposal.
Instead, Orange Beach was recently awarded with a new $14.9 million school on Canal Road. That decision, approved by the Baldwin County School Board on Sept. 21, was viewed as a snub to Gulf Shores.
Craft downplayed the friction between Gulf Shores city officials and the Baldwin County School System, which is the fourth-largest school system in the state with over 31,000 students in 45 campuses.
"It sort of seems like we are in a battle with the Baldwin board of education," Craft said. "We don't agree with some of their philosophies and how they affect us. But we recognize the overwhelming challenge they have. It's a broad and diverse (system) and to come up with one formula to take care of everyone is a daunting task."
A Baldwin County School System spokesman, in a response to the council's decision, referred to a previous statement that Superintendent Eddie Tyler made last week about split.
Tyler said he was "disappointed" that Gulf Shores "didn't come out of the gates with a plan for excellence," and criticized the financial report in which city officials based their decision.
Gulf Shores' decision came one week after the release of a five-page executive summary from the Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama (PARCA), which showed the new city system as financially doable.
"Had they come out with a plan to be the best funded, best staffed system in Alabama, then I would be applauding them and excited for what they can do, but that is not what they have shown," Tyler said in last week's statement. "While I have hope, and I wish them well, I am also concerned for these families and their future education."
Gulf Shores City Councilman Jason Dyken defended the city's ability to finance the new city school. He said that nearly $2 million annually in city reserves can pay for a city school system that can compete with other city schools in Alabama academically. Presently, Gulf Shores has $24.8 million in the bank.
"I think the bottom line is we feel comfortable and confident that not only do we have funds available on the per pupil costs to take over the school as a city school system, but we have the financial flexibility to support and fund a world-class city school," said Dyken, who chairs the council's finance committee.
The city and the Island Tax Force, a citizens group that pushed for the new school, have also had disagreements with the Baldwin County School System over projected enrollment growth at Gulf Shores. The county believes growth patterns in Gulf Shores fluctuate more than elsewhere in the county and do not warrant construction of new schools. City officials and the tax force believe the increases in building permits and Census projections show a much more rapid growth pattern.
Tyler had said the reason Orange Beach received a new middle school is because of Gulf Shores' plans to split away. Initially, an expansion to Gulf Shores Elementary School was included in a $60 million construction plan approved earlier this year. The elementary school is currently overcrowded, and 11 portable trailers serve as makeshift classrooms.
The new city school system doesn't include plans to build a new school. Craft noted that if a new high school was constructed, it could require a tax increase. He said there is enough money in place to handle the financing of additions to existing buildings.
The last time a school building plan went before voters, it was shot down. A 2015 countywide referendum was overwhelmingly defeated by cities throughout Baldwin County, including Gulf Shores. That plan that would have fueled a 10-year, $350 million expansion to build schools throughout the county, including Gulf Shores.
"At some point, when we need a new high school, and that is a ways down the road, it may need another vote," said Craft. "But we believe our project growth and management of money, we have enough to meet our short-term needs."
Craft added, "With city schools, once they get established, the vote is much easier to pass. We are going to prove we can be better and offer something more significant for our kids."
Craft said there were plenty of unknowns about the city school. Among them was how athletic teams would be fielded. The estimate enrollment at the new high school will be around 550 students.
He said he the new school can "overcome" any concerns about shortages of participants for extracurricular activities.
"I believe, historically, if you look at city schools, they grow faster," Craft said.
He also said that future approaches to hot-button political issues, such as the fate of Common Core, would be addressed by the future city school board. Another unknown is whether the new school system would accept students who live outside city limits.
Also, the new school board will be charged with determining which teachers, currently employed by the Baldwin County School System, will be retained.
"I do know the board of education will be negotiating with and hiring the teachers," Craft said. "We hope they all apply. We will appoint the city board of education and it will hire the superintendent, who will serve as CEO and (he or she) will make that decision."
Also unknown is what will happen with Swiger, who said she will remain on the Baldwin County School Board for the time being.
She called her future on the board "a moving target." Swiger is a Gulf Shores resident.
"If, at some point, I become ineligible to serve my school community on the Baldwin County Board of Education, I will be happy to serve on a local level if that is the desire of my community," Swiger said in a statement earlier Monday. "Until that time, I'll continue to advocate for the children in my district on a county level as I always have."
Despite the unknowns, parents like J.B. Ryall described themselves as "excited" to see the city school system push forward.
"I think everyone is confident with it," said Ryall. "There will be a few naysayers, but on the whole, everyone is happy for it."
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