The Baldwin County Schools system on the Gulf Coast of Alabama is close to completing $341.4 million in new construction projects in an astonishing reversal of fortunes nearly eight years after an earlier school building program was overwhelmingly rejected by voters, AL.com reported Feb. 15.
In addition, the current program, called "Pay As You Go," will finance another $94 million in new projects that could be under construction by this fall.
It is a program mostly paid for with cash and without long-term bonding and new taxes, the statewide news service noted. Pay As You Go has added around 1.5 million sq. ft. in new school construction, itself a remarkable feat when considering no new building occurred within the county school system between 2009-2015.
The program was praised in mid-February during a school board meeting while the newest slate of projects was unveiled. Later this spring, Baldwin County school officials are expected to unveil a separate list of projects that include new athletic fields and fine arts venues.
"I don't think people really understand how blessed this system is," said Eddie Tyler, the superintendent of the Baldwin County School System, Alabama's third largest behind Mobile and Jefferson counties.
A Better Solution
AL.com reported that in 2015, an $8 million property tax increase was overwhelmingly defeated during a special election that was almost financially disastrous to the county. In addition to the new mill rate, voters did a rarity: They also voted down the renewal of existing mill rates, which meant the school system was staring at less revenue and few solutions to address rapid growth.
The property tax increase was expected to generate $350 million in new taxes that would finance a long-term bond. With interest, school officials say that program would have cost around $500 million.
It was a tough defeat at the time because the county's schools were filling up fast. Officials scrambled to bring in trailers to house the overflow of students, and up to 130 portables were spread throughout Baldwin County's four-dozen school buildings.
"It allowed us to get back to the drawing board, and allowed us to rethink everything," said John Wilson, the school system's chief financial officer, about the earlier election defeat. "We cut expenses, prioritized everything, and came back with a cash aggressive financing program. It was devastating at the time. But in hindsight, it allowed us to get creative and figure out a much better solution in the long-term."
School System Growing in Multiple Phases
The Pay As You Go program started relatively small — the first two phases, which began in 2015, financed around $40 million in projects.
Phase 3 was $116 million, followed by Phase 4 at $101.3 million. Parts of Phase 4 are currently under construction or are set to continue throughout 2023, including a new $27.2 million elementary school in Silverhill.
The only major project under way that is not financed through Pay As You Go is an $82.7 million career-tech school being built on Alabama Highway 59 north of Loxley. That 196,340-sq.-ft. facility, which could cost up to $92 million once it is complete, is financed through a long-term bond.
The Phase 5 projects, set to get under way by this fall, include:
- A new $30 million, 118,000-sq.-ft. middle school in Elberta that will have 25 classrooms, four self-contained classrooms for special education, four labs, a band suite and chorus room, and a competition track.
- A $26 million elementary school in Loxley.
- At Daphne High School, $10 million will be spent to build a new cafeteria accommodating 750 people, additional classrooms, a new parking lot at the current softball field, and the relocation of the softball field to nearby property that will be deeded from the city of Daphne to the school system.
- Elberta Elementary School will receive $10 million to expand by converting a gymnasium into 12-13 classrooms, and the construction of a new gym and cafeteria.
- Another $9 million is slated to replace aging buildings at Daphne Elementary School with a 20-classroom addition to reconfigure the facility into a K-6 school (it is now a K-3 facility).
- At Magnolia Elementary in Foley, $8 million will go toward adding new classrooms.
Even More Projects Ahead in Baldwin County
Wilson told AL.com that discussions are also under way on how to address an expansion or reconfiguration at Foley High School, along with the construction of a new high school in the Eastern Shore.
Additional rezoning of school boundaries is expected to accommodate the new growth and to alleviate schools that are approaching or are near capacity. For instance, Belforest Elementary School, just opened in the 2020-2021 school year, has already reached the limits on how many students it can accommodate.
"What is coming are families with young children and our elementary schools are getting overrun," Tyler explained. "We are holding on and we will rezone. Will it happen between Stapleton and Loxley? Is it going to happen in Daphne around Belforest? We don't know yet, but it is coming."
In addition, the arrival of a $2 billion Novelius plant north of Bay Minette could lead to more demands on schools in the northern portions of Baldwin County. Wilson said the massive new factory could bring in $18 million to $20 million in new sales taxes.
The school's finances were also boosted with last year's split by Orange Beach, according to AL.com. As part of the breakaway agreement, the Baldwin County School System received over $35 million in cash — money that will go toward the new athletic fields and fine arts venues to be announced later this year.
The expansion projects in the southern Alabama county east of Mobile do not include other school projects that are also ongoing.
In Gulf Shores, for instance, that city's school system is undergoing the "Next Wave," a 10-year construction program estimated to cost $200 million and include the construction of a new high school.
Gulf Shores split away from the Baldwin County School System in 2019.
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