Editor,

The Mayor and City Council of Orange Beach are making an effort to create an independent school system for the City. They argue this is a solution to offer better education as well as to meet the needs of a doubling in size of population.

A substantial and growing number of citizens question the wisdom of this action. We are opposed to a school split and a tax increase. An independent school system is not an affordable or effective way to achieve an improved education for Orange Beach students at this time.

– Increased revenues to pay for this independent system are to come from a proposed increase in property tax and lodging taxes; however, there is no comprehensive plan with verified costs and revenues. All numbers were generated by a consultant whose credibility has been challenged in a detailed assessment by the Baldwin County School District with legal arguments supported by the Alabama Attorney General.

– Locations for two new schools, a middle school and a high school, are in question, especially the location of the middle school on the campus of the elementary school.

– Even with increased taxes, a 200 student high school is not affordable nor will it be able to provide staffing for an excellent college bound and career ready curriculum, extracurricular activities (including athletics) and a physical plant with advanced technology.

– Increasing lodging tax “bites the hand that feeds.”

– Increasing property taxes places yet another unwanted burden on the residents and businesses.

Our island can be a fragile economy and susceptible to storms, floods and environmental disasters, which can seriously decrease revenue projections.

– And, finally, doubling the population of Orange Beach in the near future is highly unlikely. The recent statistics of student growth in Gulf Shores Elementary School are 38 percent in the last two years, while Orange Beach Elementary has only seen 10 percent growth in the same time period.

For all of these reasons and others to come in the ongoing debate, we will vehemently oppose this scheme.   

Jim Caldwell

Orange Beach