Board to set Robertsdale school tax vote

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ROBERTSDALE – The Baldwin County Board of Education is scheduled to vote June 8 to allow central Baldwin voters to approve a three-mill property tax for local schools, Eddie Tyler, superintendent of education, said.

The board will hold a special meeting in June to set a referendum for a property tax vote in the district that includes the Robertsdale High School feeder pattern. The district includes Robertsdale, Loxley and Silverhill as well as the unincorporated areas in central Baldwin.

Voters in the Spanish Fort and Fairhope districts approved three-mill property taxes in referendums in 2019.

At a breakfast meeting between Baldwin County Public School System representatives and local officials May 21, system consultant Jonathan Gray said residents and officials in central Baldwin want their area to be the third district with a similar tax.

“That’s probably not a surprise that Spanish Fort and Fairhope would go out and do that, but I am elated to tell you that the board at the next meeting will be considering resolutions from Robertsdale feeder pattern, including Silverhill and including Loxley that they are pushing forward a three-mill tax vote for their own cities, which will go on the ballot in September,” Gray said.

Under state law, districts within a school system can vote to impose a property tax of up to three mills. Money from that tax would go only to schools in that district. A three-mill tax would increase taxes by $3 for each $10,000 in appraised value of property, according to reports. The tax increase on a $300,000 home would be $90 a year.

John Wilson, chief financial officer for the Baldwin County school system, said the Fairhope tax is bringing in about $2.5 million a year for that district. Revenue for Spanish Fort is about $900,000. Wilson said the Robertsdale tax is expected to generate between $800,000 to $850,000 a year, if passed.

Gray said money from the tax would be used only in central Baldwin. A committee of local residents would determine how the money would be spent and that recommendation would have to be approved by the Board of Education.

“It is not a tax that goes to the county,” Gray said. “It is not a tax that goes to the school board. It is a tax that is appropriated locally by a locally appointed committee that then goes to the superintendent and the school board for approval and agreement.”

Loxley Mayor Richard Teal said the money will help students in his town and the rest of central Baldwin keep up with other areas.

“I think it’d be a benefit for the whole feeder pattern,” Teal said. “I want what’s best for our children and we’ve got to use whatever tool that’s out there that’s best for our children. That’s what I want to do. I think central Baldwin is sending a message that we want to do what is best for our children, to give them the best opportunity to compete, nationally, state and countywide. We want our children to be able to compete with all the children in the county and state and nationally.”

Tyler said residents in other areas of Baldwin County can now see that the tax is helping schools in Spanish Fort and Fairhope.

“I think they wanted to see how this was going to trend and I think they took their time. They did their research and they were asking for guidance and we came and gave them guidance,” Tyler said.

He said the tax allows schools to add more academic programs and educators. The tax cannot be used for athletic programs.

“We’re going to continue to supply those schools with what they need, but this is where citizens and parents want to go above and beyond what we supply and provide to our schools, resources, personnel,” Tyler said. “So, this is just an enhancement for those areas.”

COVID plans

Also at the May 21 meeting, Tyler said that school officials will not have COVID-19 restrictions when the new academic year starts in August, but new cleaning programs will continue.

“Unless the board says slow down, we’re wide open come next August. Unless the Alabama High School Athletic Association slows us down, we’re wide open next August,” Tyler said. “We’re going to get back to what we do best. I’m probably going to get rid of the word COVID in my language. Pretty soon, I’m just going to stop saying it.”

He said additional efforts to sanitize schools have helped prevent the spread of other diseases as well and will continue.

“One thing that’s not going to change is how we clean our schools,” Tyler said. “That was kind of an awakening and how we clean our buses. That’s just not going to change. We’ll keep our schools clean. We’re going to dust the floors and stuff, but we’re going to continue our cleaning practices in our cafeterias. I know masks probably helped with our flu season, but folks, we just blew right through flu season. I wasn’t even sure if we had one.”

He said the school system will continue to offer virtual school, remote learning, options in all grades for families who do not want their children in standard classrooms.

Virtual school attendance peaked at about 7,000 at the height of the pandemic. Enrollment in the program is now about 1,700, about 7 percent of the total enrollment, Renee Carter, curriculum director, said.

Between 600 and 700 students are expected to take part in elementary and secondary virtual school programs when the new academic year begins in August, Tyler said.