can someone please explain something to me about the AL school systems..... (Atmore: home, middle school)

[NoleFanHSV]

High population density increases the ratio of teachers to administrators. If smaller schools are needed needed across the state, the same number of teachers are needed but more administrators are needed to run those schools. It also costs more in buses and gas for those schools especially for large. Funny thing is, Alabama's per pupil dollar is actually pretty low, which means Alabama isn't spending that much on their students. Florida, with a much higher population density, spends roughly the same. Of course, that says nothing about the quality of education.

[GreggT]

Originally Posted by Southlander

It also depends on how far the kids in one town would have to drive or be carried by bus. Brewer is an example of consolidated schools, but some of those kids get on the bus at 6 a.m. to get to school by 7:45. That's due to both distance and the amount of kids each bus has to pick up.

Not true today, the reasons are simple. The school board and the superintendent are elected. If there was a movement to consolidate schools in order to be more efficient and save tax dollars the voters would "vote the bums out" because they are so attached to their sports teams, mainly football. It does not matter if their schools are falling apart, the teachers are working in overcrowded class rooms, or that they to beg the parents for even the most basic things like toilet paper, they better not whisper consolidation and threaten that all important high school football team if they want to get re-elected.

Years ago, roads were worse and it was a lot more difficult to get to a school from a distance; therefore, more communities had their own schools. Schools contribute a huge amount to an area's identity. Closing a school is more than just a building closed down. Sometimes it means the death of a community.

This is very true

[TN2HSV]

Originally Posted by NoleFanHSV

High population density increases the ratio of teachers to administrators. If smaller schools are needed needed across the state, the same number of teachers are needed but more administrators are needed to run those schools. It also costs more in buses and gas for those schools especially for large. Funny thing is, Alabama's per pupil dollar is actually pretty low, which means Alabama isn't spending that much on their students. Florida, with a much higher population density, spends roughly the same. Of course, that says nothing about the quality of education.

Boom. That's what I was getting at. Not to mention the expense of operating the buildings. Insurance, repairs & maintenance, utilities, janitorial, etc etc. There are significant savings in those areas by consolidation. Sounds like it's one of those " we've just always done it this way" things. And I'm sure the AEA has some influence in the matter.

[NoleFanHSV]

Originally Posted by TN2HSV

Boom. That's what I was getting at. Not to mention the expense of operating the buildings. Insurance, repairs & maintenance, utilities, janitorial, etc etc. There are significant savings in those areas by consolidation. Sounds like it's one of those " we've just always done it this way" things. And I'm sure the AEA has some influence in the matter.

Increasing school size and reducing the number of schools means higher costs in transportation.

Studies have shown though, that high dollar per pupil doesn't equate to better schools, either.

[TN2HSV]

Originally Posted by GreggT

Not true today, the reasons are simple. The school board and the superintendent are elected. If there was a movement to consolidate schools in order to be more efficient and save tax dollars the voters would "vote the bums out" because they are so attached to their sports teams, mainly football. It does not matter if their schools are falling apart, the teachers are working in overcrowded class rooms, or that they to beg the parents for even the most basic things like toilet paper, they better not whisper consolidation and threaten that all important high school football team if they want to get re-elected.

I also suspected this had a lot to do with it, but not being an AL native, I didn't want to make that assumption.

Of course, I did grow up in southern middle TN and now I live in North AL, and they are practically one and the same .

[TN2HSV]

This is something interesting I found. It's the 2014 AL high school classification (3A, 4A, 7A, etc.) list for football. I'm sure you all know that there is such a disparity in sizes of high schools across the state, there are now 7 different classes. Your 7A schools are pretty much those with 1000 students & above and it goes on down the list. This lists them by enrollment.

Look down in the 2A and 1A sections. ARe you kidding me? There are public high schools in this state with less than 100 students. Fyffe has 208 students and Section has 203. These towns are about 6 miles from each other! You can't tell me that it would be more expensive to bus & consolidate those 2 schools than it is to operate 2 separate ones. Wow.

http://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/PDF's/AHSAA/AHSAA/2014-16%20Classification.pdf

[jasonhsv]

Originally Posted by TN2HSV

This is something interesting I found. It's the 2014 AL high school classification (3A, 4A, 7A, etc.) list for football. I'm sure you all know that there is such a disparity in sizes of high schools across the state, there are now 7 different classes. Your 7A schools are pretty much those with 1000 students & above and it goes on down the list. This lists them by enrollment.

Look down in the 2A and 1A sections. ARe you kidding me? There are public high schools in this state with less than 100 students. Fyffe has 208 students and Section has 203. These towns are about 6 miles from each other! You can't tell me that it would be more expensive to bus & consolidate those 2 schools than it is to operate 2 separate ones. Wow.

http://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/PDF&#...sification.pdf

According to Google maps, Fyffe HS and Section HS are 13 miles apart. Still might make sense to consolidate them - I don't know.

[TN2HSV]

Maybe the actual schools are that far apart; I was just looking at the towns.
PS....I'm not picking on those schools specifically, it's just that I'm relatively familiar with that area. I'm sure this type of thing runs rampant all over the state.

[dijkstra]

You are correct. We have a completely dysfunctional inefficient public school system. Each little town or city that has it's own school system has it's own administration and superintendent. I personally think there should be one administration and offices for each county or perhaps for regions. That is why I vote against every single tax increase for school funding that comes along. The way I figure it, is maybe one day with funding problems; common sense will prevail and school systems will be consolidated.

[Nlambert]

Originally Posted by TN2HSV

This is something interesting I found. It's the 2014 AL high school classification (3A, 4A, 7A, etc.) list for football. I'm sure you all know that there is such a disparity in sizes of high schools across the state, there are now 7 different classes. Your 7A schools are pretty much those with 1000 students & above and it goes on down the list. This lists them by enrollment.

Look down in the 2A and 1A sections. ARe you kidding me? There are public high schools in this state with less than 100 students. Fyffe has 208 students and Section has 203. These towns are about 6 miles from each other! You can't tell me that it would be more expensive to bus & consolidate those 2 schools than it is to operate 2 separate ones. Wow.

http://www.ahsaa.com/Portals/0/PDF's/AHSAA/AHSAA/2014-16%20Classification.pdf

I came from a 1A school in South Alabama. In our county we had 4 1A schools grades K-12. The main city in the county had a 3A school with a separate elementary, middle, and high school and they were at capacity. My particular school had 210 students grades 7-12. I graduated in a class of 32 people. The other 1A schools were about the same size.

At one point they talked of consolidating the schools, but that meant some students would have to be bussed over an hour and a half one way. Not to mention, the school system didn't have the funding to make this happen so it was cheaper to maintain what was already there. My school eventually closed down and now kids are bussed to one of the other 1A schools 25 miles away. Some kids can't even ride the bus and have to be driven to school.

I moved outside of Atmore, AL in 8th grade for one year and had to be bussed into Atmore to go to middle school because they only had one middle school in the district. I got on the bus every morning at 5:30 am and got off the bus at 7:40am. We even switched half way to school onto another bus. That was absolutely miserable for those of us who had to ride them. I wouldn't wish it on anyone.