City Schools of Decatur on Cusp of Buying Land for School

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City Schools of Decatur is one step closer to alleviating its growing enrollment crisis by purchasing a four-acre plot in the southeastern part of the city.

The land is on Talley Street, and has enough empty space to build one of the two schools the system will need to accommodate surging enrollment, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution says. Outgoing Superintendent Phyllis Edwards says the system needs a new Kindergarten-3 and 4-5th Grade Academy by the 2018-19 academic year.

In order to afford the $5 million purchase price for the Talley Street property, City Schools of Decatur needs city voters to approve a $75 million bond that would see the school system prepared for 93 percent of projected low-growth enrollment needs with a $680/year property tax increase for Decatur residents.

Residents were asked to participate in an online survey in April to help the school system gauge community opinions on how much they could ask the Decatur City Commission for in a bond referendum; a $60 million figure would cover 89 percent of the school system’s projected low-growth enrollment needs, with a $545 increase on property taxes for a home worth $500,000, while an $82 million figure would cover the entire projected need with a $744/year property tax increase.

City Schools of Decatur must also complete an environmental study on the site as it formerly contained an automobile storage site, the AJC says.