Daphne council talks potential school split

By Cliff McCollum
Posted 2/20/17

A potential split from Baldwin County’s school system was once again on the table during last week’s Daphne City Council work session, as city leaders listened to the opinion of a local attorney …

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Daphne council talks potential school split

Posted

A potential split from Baldwin County’s school system was once again on the table during last week’s Daphne City Council work session, as city leaders listened to the opinion of a local attorney who had helped other systems navigate their splits.

Mobile attorney Bob Campbell spoke to the council about his experiences helping the cities of Saraland, Satsuma and Chickasaw break away from the Mobile County School System.

Campbell said there was plenty of state law and history that supported the right of a city to split with a county system, but warned it was not a process to be undertaken lightly.

“The first thing you have to do is make a commitment as a city council because the city council has control of this system,” Campbell said. “You must have a reason, not just a political notion. You don’t go through this process because of a political notion. There must be an understanding that it would be better to break off and form your own system.”

Campbell did inform the council they did not necessarily have to have a vote of the public before making the decision whether to split.

Campbell walked the council through the process of appointing their own school board and negotiating the city’s exit with the county system.

“It’s like a huge, horrible divorce,” Campbell said. “You’ve got one party that doesn’t want the divorce, Baldwin County. You’re talking about custody of the kids, facilities, money, parents involved and sharing tax revenues. You’re talking about the person who doesn’t want the divorce saying you’re losing all of this. It’s contentious.”

Councilman Doug Goodlin asked about residents from outside of the city’s limits being able to be included in the city’s system.

Campbell said that was an issue to be addressed early in the process.

“You’ll have some that want to come to Daphne from another system that can apply,” Campbell said. “That would mainly be for the students that live in the current Daphne system. Some other areas charge tuition for those out of city kids, some don’t.”

Councilman Joe Davis said some residents of his district, which includes the Timbercreek subdivision, were technically residents of Daphne, though their children attend Spanish Fort feeder pattern schools.

Campbell said those kids would be brought into a new Daphne system if it were created.

“In the end, you go to the schools in the district that you reside in,” Campbell said. “I know that’s not what you want to tell your constituents, but it’s true.”

Council President Ron Scott said he wasn’t certain the council absolutely wanted to head in the direction of a separate school system yet.

“You mentioned it would take the will of the council to make this happen,” Scott said. “My personal opinion is that we don’t have that will, but I’m one of seven. A strong commitment would be necessary to make this happen, and I don’t know if we’re there yet.”

Mayor Dane Haygood said he was concerned over the potential divisiveness of this move.

“I think there’s a lot of information that need to be had, but I think we all want quality education and a sense of community,” Haygood said. “I think that can happen within our current framework. No one has the crystal ball right now. This process is new to all of us and something we’re going to have to continue to tread lightly on to see if it’s something we want to pursue for the city of Daphne.”

Councilman Robin LeJeune said he thought moving forward with the split could be the best option for Daphne’s children.

“We want make to make the best choice for our children, but you have to also look at what’s been happening,” LeJeune said. “There’s been failures with Baldwin County. Build Baldwin Now - massive failure. Do we see that that’s going to be corrected? How many portables at Daphne East do we have to accept? It’s something we have to do. Certain people on the council that don’t have the will to do that, but we try to work the best we can on what decision is going to be the best for county. We’re just trying to make the best decision we can.”