Update: City Schools of Decatur Board Members Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier published letters in Decaturish today documenting the shifting justifications, evasion, poor cost oversight, and disdain for public scrutiny that have characterized the school system’s relentless push to construct a new preschool building.
On Tuesday, May 12, City Schools of Decatur’s Board of Education will vote on requiring city residents to pay to build a new early childhood learning center — aka a daycare building on the green space across from the Ebster gym.
Q: How much is the school board proposing to spend on this new building?
A: We don’t know. The price tag keeps changing. It was $23 million for a while. At a recent board meeting there was a discussion of trying to save money by paring back some unnecessary design elements. Between that meeting and today (May 11), the price jumped to $28 million (see slide 20).
Q: How many children who live in nearby Decatur Housing Authority apartments might attend the preschool?
A: We don’t know. The city says the school is necessary to serve kids who live in DHA housing who might not otherwise have access to quality early education. At one point, the board estimated 67 children would attend the new ECLC. That number keeps dropping. A board member told me today that the best current estimate of potential students from nearby DHA homes is just 22.
Q: How will the much discussed (and much needed) proposed renovations at Decatur High School proceed?
A: We don’t know. The board’s presentation to take on $28 million in debt for a new preschool does not address renovations at the high school.
Q: If Decatur spends $28 million, plus annual operating expenses of roughly $1.5M, to close achievement gaps for just 22 potential preschool students preschool, how much will Decatur plan to spend on closing achievement gaps for K-12 students?
A: We don’t know. When Decatur teachers, residents and two school board members, ask that question at public meetings, and note that there isn’t enough staff in elementary, middle and high school to devote the necessary time to students who need extra help, they don’t get direct answers from the board.
Q: With the city’s elementary enrollment declining, wouldn’t it be more cost effective to renovate rooms in existing buildings (ex. Westchester, Glennwood and College Heights) to meet our small city’s early childhood education needs?
A: We don’t know. I’ve read board members quoted saying that would be more expensive, but I’ve never seen those estimates.
Q: If Decatur is considering moving some Pre-K classes from College Heights to Westchester, Clairemont or Glennwood (as board member Han Utz suggested was possible at an April board meeting), would it really cost more than $23-28 million to renovate 2-4 classrooms at College Heights to serve 22 additional 0-3 year olds who live less than a mile away?
A: We don’t know. Because it doesn’t appear the school board is even considering that.
Q: How much of the estimated $1.5 million in annual operating expenses at a new school for would be paid for by Decatur taxpayers, and how much will be paid through education philanthropy, as Superintendent Whitaker suggested is likely?
A: Superintendent Whitaker said at a recent public meeting that Decatur wants to pursue philanthropic support for early childhood education, but that education philanthropists will not give the city money until a new school building is completed and operational. Let’s set aside for a moment the fact that education philanthropists do, in fact, commit to conditional funding for viable long-term projects. If we just take the superintendent’s answer it’s: We don’t know.
Q: Do Decatur residents support spending tens of millions of dollars on a new school building for kids ages 0-3?
A: We don’t know. 3 of the 5 board members strongly oppose putting the new building and its funding to a referendum. They’re even considering a special funding mechanism (Certificates of Participation) that would add 20% ($6 million!) to the building’s overall price tag just because doing so would deny voters a chance to vote yes or no. (Again, see slide 20)
Q: Will school board member James Herndon, who previously recused himself from a vote involving the new building because he has a professional conflict of interest, recuse himself on May 12. Or will he cast the deciding “yes” vote on a spending package expressly (see page 20) crafted to circumvent the will of Decatur voters?
A: We don’t know. It seems he likes suspense.
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Sometimes when I go out to eat, the server will tell me there’s a special and describe it. If the server doesn’t say the price, I’ll ask. The server never says “We don’t know.”
Is it too much to ask of Decatur’s school board that it exercises the same level of fiscal due diligence as a diner considering the fish entrée? I’m worried the answer is, yes, it is too much to ask.
If the board votes “yes” to funding a new building tomorrow, they’re unfortunately voting “no” to fiscal responsibility, transparency, honesty, fiscal due diligence, community input, peer input, and the democratic process of a voter referendum. I’ve lived here since 2006 and haven’t previously witnessed our elected officials acting this disdainfully of their own constituents. I’m not alone.
I support education for all of Decatur’s kids and am willing to pay for it. I oppose spending $23-28 million on an unnecessary new building. Buildings don’t teach kids. Teachers do.
Yes to education. No to a new building.
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