Alabama’s beach cities wrap up ‘long journey’ in defining their educational future

Gulf Shores City Schools

Members of the Gulf Shores City School Board look at a newly-unveiled logo for the city school system during a reveal event on Tuesday, March 12, 2019, at the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center in Gulf Shores, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Seventeen years ago next month, 180 people crowded into a room at Gulf State Park and listened to city officials and an education consultant inform them property taxes would need to be raised in order to create a new “Pleasure Island” school district, and to make it competitive with other schools in Alabama.

Over the next two decades, the process evolved: Voters overwhelmingly shot down a tax increase to support the Island concept in 2007. Orange Beach voters did the same in 2014, shooting down a 5-mill tax increase to form an independent school system. A countywide school tax proposal – aimed at paying for $350 million in upgrades throughout Baldwin County – also met a dubious fate in 2015, leaving schools overcrowded and outdated.

But all those past referendums and headaches over a high-profile split of Gulf Shores from the Baldwin County School System will end on Wednesday with the official opening of the new Orange Beach high and middle schools, which are part of the Baldwin County School System’s expansive portfolio. The new $30.7 million school on Canal Road is welcoming just shy of 400 students.

A short 4 miles to the west is Gulf Shores High School that represents a part of Alabama’s newest city school system formed on June 1, 2019. Entering its second school year, the city-owned and operated system will enroll 2,250 students in grade pre-K to 12.

“We’re excited,” said Kevin Corcoran, president of the Gulf Shores City School Board who also played a role during the oft-contentious negotiations during a lengthy split away of Gulf Shores from the Baldwin County School System, which is Alabama’s third largest. “Anytime education gets better in Baldwin County, it’s better for everyone. We’re thrilled with our friends in Orange Beach and we’re excited for them.”

‘Extensive’ history

During a ribbon cutting ceremony outside the new Orange Beach school, the name “Gulf Shores” was not mentioned once by Superintendent Eddie Tyler or the various others who spoke publicly during the event. But the past loomed large over the celebration that was made possible because of the county’s $60 million Pay As You Go program introduced in 2017, to finance school construction in a rapidly growing school district.

“This has been a long journey,” Tyler repeatedly pointed out. “I’m not going back into the history. It’s extensive how we came to this point right here.”

Indeed, the history can be pointed back to a July 2017, session of the Baldwin County School Board when the initial school construction program was introduced to applause from most of the people attending the meeting in Loxley. But among those who had concerns was Angie Swiger, then a school board member who is currently running for a spot on the Gulf Shores City Council this month.

Swiger argued the county system wasn’t providing enough of an investment into Gulf Shores to help alleviate the proliferation of trailers that were housing students, and noted that “we are cramming a lot of wings and gyms into one small space.” The school system, in response, felt that Gulf Shores’ growth didn’t warrant the construction of a new school or major expansion at a time when other cities – namely, the Eastern Shore area of Spanish Fort, Daphne and Fairhope – needed a school to house the rapid growth in recent decades.

The Pay As You Go program, which exists today, was made possible through the permanent extension of a 1 percent sales tax that was set to expire in 2018. The tax brings millions of dollars a year into the school coffers, and was viewed as a life saver for a school system teetering on financial distress with little means to pay for school projects that could alleviate the close to 100 portable trailers that served as makeshift classrooms for students.

Alabama State Senator Chris Elliott, R-Daphne, was a member of the four-person Baldwin County Commission that voted in support of making the sales tax increase permanent that year, a risky move considering the conservative county’s aversion toward property tax increases in previous years. Baldwin County is one of the few counties in Alabama where voters have shot down the renewal of existing mills of property taxes to fund schools. A mill amounts to a dollar in tax for every $1,000 of assessed property value.

State Senator Chris Elliott

Alabama State Senator Chris Elliott, R-Daphne, speaks during the announcement of a March 2019 settlement in the split of Gulf Shores from the Baldwin County School System. Standing to to the left is Gulf Shores City Superintendent Matt Akin and to the right is Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler. (photo courtesy of Cliff McCollum, Director of Constituent Services, Baldwin County Legislative Delegation).

“The good news with the sales tax, as opposed to the property tax, is our visitors pay it and they end up funding a lot of the improvements,” said Elliott. “The penny tax that the commission made indefinite that stabilized the school system’s funding and allowed for borrowing on a short-time period without going out on a 30-year (borrowing) program for construction. It’s so much more efficient and puts the dollars in to get the benefits of the kids sooner.”

Friction arose between Gulf Shores and the Baldwin County School System in 2017, when in a 5-2 board vote, the county system endorsed the construction of a new Orange Beach high and middle school. At the same time, the county school system opted to freeze out a $3.8 million addition to the Gulf Shores Elementary School that was included in the original Pay As You Go program. The reason for the freeze: Gulf Shores was exploring, at the time, a split away from the Baldwin County School System.

‘Messy’ divorce

Gulf Shores City Council meeting

An overflowing crowd attends the Gulf Shores City Council meeting on Monday, Oct. 9, 2017, in Gulf Shores, Ala. The City Council voted unanimously to form a city school system. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

About one month later, in October 2017, the Gulf Shores City Council – to a rousing applause – voted to create its own city school system. A new school board was formed shortly thereafter. But the transition was anything but smooth. In February 2019, negotiations between the two sides were cut off and forwarded to the Alabama State Superintendent’s Office for finalization.

A change in state superintendents – from Ed Richardson to Eric Mackey – also slowed things down. But by early 2019, Mackey oversaw a separation agreement that became a hot topic and placed the state superintendent in the media spotlight after he was accused of incentivizing city splits from county school systems. Ultimately, the split went through after an agreement was reached between Gulf Shores and Baldwin County in March 2019, ending a 15-month separation journey with both sides making public statements indicating they were pleased with the final result.

Elliott, though, likened the conclusion to a “divorce” that “at times, got very messy.”

“It will be interesting to see how it will play out, but I think (the separation agreement and the formation of the Gulf Shores city school system) was a better solution than trying to force a party to a relationship like that to stay in a system they didn’t want to stay in,” said Elliott.

The contentious separation, coupled with racially sensitive discussions over a proposed (and eventually failed) split of Gardendale from the Jefferson County School System, spurred action in Montgomery. Legislation was introduced and debated that would have made it more difficult for a city to split from a county school system, but it hasn’t been approved by state lawmakers. Alabama’s current law only requires a city to have 5,000 residents and pledge 10 mills of property tax to create its own school system. The law also does not require a city’s residents to vote to form a new school system.

Elliott said he was able to get local legislation approved in 2019 that requires new city school districts to pay the Baldwin County School System the assessed value of school buildings if any future school splits occur. The Gulf Shores city school system is the first, and only, city district in the county.

‘Competition’

Gulf Shores city logo

The logo for Gulf Shores city schools.

But with both Gulf Shores and the Baldwin County School System, the past seems to be the past even if a new budding rivalry is evolving.

“With Gulf Shores being an independent school system, that’s competition,” said Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon. “Competition is good. No matter how we got there, the vision has never changed and that is excellence in education and turning out good young men and women of character, work ethic, and discipline.”

The new Orange Beach school is a 130,000 square foot featuring 21 high school classrooms, eight middle school classrooms, six combined collaborative rooms, and multiple science labs and classrooms. The high school has a band room and theatre room and pop shop; the middle school will have television production suite with a classroom and an art room and lab.

An auditorium that will seat 710 people is under construction adjacent to the school. It’s an approximately $10 million project being financed by the city and will be used for both school-related purposes and for community events and concerts. Kennon said he envisions it being completed by April 2021.

In Gulf Shores, the new city school system completed an approximately $7 million overhaul to the school exteriors as well as some indoor renovations. Further construction projects include a $4.6 million high school gym renovation and expansion of the Dolphin Athletics Center. In addition, the school system is planning for the construction of a $3.3 million addition to the elementary school called the Science, Reading, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Math (STREAM) Collaborative Learning Center. The new center is expected to accommodate enrollment growth and a new 21st Century Learning environment aimed at providing a student-centered, experienced-based learning atmosphere. It will have six new classrooms, two STREAM labs, break out spaces and outdoor learning areas.

The projects are being funded by the city, and Superintendent Matt Akin said the local government is committed to “providing the very best educational resources” for Gulf Shores.

Both Baldwin County and Gulf Shores will restart the school year at the same time – on Wednesday. And both are dealing with a surge in students wanting to attend virtual school as parents and students scour for alternatives to in-person education inside a traditional brick-and-mortar setting during the coronavirus pandemic.

Baldwin County Schools has about 20% of its approximately 31,000 student body enrolled in virtual schools. At Gulf Shores, 440 students are attending virtual school, or about 19.6% of its student body.

Akin said at Gulf Shores, K-12 students can participate in a blended virtual program that allows students to take most of their classes virtually while taking some classes in a traditional format. For instance, high school students taking Culinary Arts or Gulf Coast Ecology or Theatre classes and do so in a face-to-face format, while takin the rest of his or her classes online.

Orange Beach High School opening

A look inside the new Orange Beach high school. (supplied photo by the Baldwin County School System).

The two schools are also gearing up for separate athletic competitions. Gulf Shores, with the Dolphin mascot, will continue playing football in Class 6A football, Region 1. Orange Beach, with the nickname Mako – a large mackerel shark – will start its varsity football existence in Class 2A, Region 1. The two schools are not scheduled to play each other, but the middle schools are slated for a late October clash.

“There has always been a rivalry here,” said Elliott. “That’s not a bad thing. There are real implications when that rivalry exists, and it gets people interested in investing in their school, so their school is better.”

Said Corcoran, “Island residents now have a great choice. The shiny building underneath the Baldwin County umbrella and the independent school system in Gulf Shores.”

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.