Alabama bills would give shrinking school districts, like five in the Black Belt, option to merge

Two bills moving through the Alabama Legislature would give neighboring school districts the option to merge if they have small and shrinking enrollment, including at least five systems in the Black Belt.

Neither bill requires systems to combine, and neither bill sets an enrollment threshold, but lawmakers have said that districts with 1,000 or fewer students might benefit by combining to save on administrative overhead while generating some economies of scale, Alabama Daily News reported March 30.

Thirteen school systems in Alabama have 1,000 or fewer students, and five of those are in the Black Belt. Two other Black Belt systems are barely over the 1,000-student threshold.

Marengo County Schools has 912 students, and Linden City Schools serving the county seat has 402. (Demopolis City Schools has 1,795 students.)

Perry County Schools has 740 students, Sumter County Schools has 809 students and Greene County has 813 students.

Two other Black Belt systems are barely over the recommended threshold. Wilcox County Schools has 1,021 students, and Lowndes County, which announced it is closing three schools next year because of declining enrollment, has 1,002 students.

Alabama has 67 county and 72 city school districts serving 729,242 students.

While the number of students in public schools statewide remained steady since 1995, every Black Belt school system experienced declines in enrollment over the last 20 years. Perry County experienced a 70% decline in enrollment, Marengo County saw a 55% decrease, Linden City Schools saw 42% decline, Sumter County saw 72%, Lowndes County saw 66% and Greene County saw 63%.

Statewide, Alabama Daily News found six city districts with fewer than 1,000 students: Lanett City in Chambers County, Thomasville City in Clarke County, Sheffield City in Colbert County, Midfield City in Jefferson County, Elba City in Coffee County and Linden City in Marengo County.

The seven Alabama county districts with fewer than 1,000 students are Choctaw County, Marengo County, Greene County, Sumter County, Coosa County, Perry County and Barbour County.

House Bill 178, sponsored by House Education Budget Chairman Danny Garrett, R-Trussville, would allow contiguous city school districts to merge. House Bill 380, sponsored by House Education Policy Chair Terri Collins, R-Decatur, would allow two or more contiguous county school districts to merge into a single district.

Garrett and Collins emphasized that their bills allow but do not mandate school districts to consolidate. If passed, the bills would expand current state law, which only allows a city system to merge with a county system.

Both bills would allow neighboring school boards to agree to consolidate by passing resolutions. If, within 30 days, at least 25% of registered voters living in the affected districts file a written protest, the proposed merger would go to a vote of the people living in those districts.

Garrett said he filed HB178 to give small districts an option as they face declining enrollment while paying high costs for administration and overhead.

“It may make sense for school systems to consolidate,” Garrett told members of the House Education Budget Committee in January.

“Other states do this,” Garrett said. “By consolidating, you’re able to eliminate overhead. You’re able to become more efficient. You’re able to have more impact of the dollars you receive.”

During House debate in February, Garrett also said his bill could help districts get ahead of a possible downturn in education tax revenue in the years ahead.

Collins said she filed HB380 after hearing Garrett present his bill and thinking some small county systems could benefit from the same opportunity to combine resources.

“My goal would be to put a little bit less in administration, get some economies of scale, but mostly be able to put more money back into the classroom,” Collins told the House Education Policy Committee in February.

Her bill would require a constitutional amendment, meaning voters statewide would have to approve it in November if lawmakers pass it this session. Unlike Garrett’s bill, HB380 would also require the state Board of Education to conduct an impact study before a merger could move forward.

While lawmakers promote mergers as a way to help small districts become more efficient, school funding expert Zahava Stadler said simply combining two struggling districts may not do much to transform students’ opportunities. 

Stadler leads K-12 school funding research and analysis for New America, a nonpartisan policy organization that researches public problems and proposes ideas for improving how American institutions work.

“If the Legislature is going to consider what school district mergers could bring in terms of efficiency,” Stadler said, “this is also a moment to consider: What do we mean when we say a good school system that offers kids fair opportunity and a well-resourced education?”

She said consolidation discussions can be more meaningful, even transformative, when they focus not only on reducing inefficiencies but also on whether students across district lines have access to strong, well-funded opportunities.

She also said district boundaries can shape how much local funding is available to support students, meaning mergers or boundary changes can sometimes reduce gaps between neighboring systems with very different tax bases.

Her organization published an interactive data visualization as part of their recent report, “Redrawing the Lines,” that includes Alabama scenarios for how school district boundaries could be redrawn through mergers.

Both school district merger bills have cleared the House floor. Collins’ bill is heading to a Senate committee, while Garrett’s bill has already cleared a Senate committee and heads next to the Senate floor. 

Click here to see a chart prepared by Alabama Daily News that shows district enrollment for each school district from 1995 forward. Use the dropdown menu to choose the district.

This article is based on an article written by Trisha Powell Crain for Alabama Daily News, a news partner with the Black Belt News Network.