Early childhood center likely next buildinggoal

If everything goes to plan, City Schools Decatur should finish its new upper elementary (grades 3-5) school on Talley Street in July. This is the final project financed by a $75 million General Obligation passed by voters in Nov. 2015, just one day after Superintendent David Dude started work.

Speaking last month during Decatur’s annual state of the city event, Board Chair Lewis Jones said a priority for the board in 2019 is planning for and figuring out how to pay for a new Early Childhood Learning Center. Theoretically, a much larger ECLC could get built on 3 acres off East Trinity Place, next to the district’s central office, which CSD purchased in 2017.

If that happens, it’s almost certain that ultimately the current ECLC at College Heights would get reconfigured into a lower elementary (K-2).

Although CSD’s K-12 enrollment has more thandoubled since 2009, ECLC enrollment remains mostly static due to a building capacity of around 330. There is a $1,300 to $1,400 per month tuition for children 3 and under, but 4-year-olds are mostly state funded.

“The original intention [of the ECLC] was to be affordable,” Jones said. “But right now [students are] chosen by lottery, and not everybody can afford the tuition. That’s an important goal for us, subsidizing the seats so it’s affordable for everyone. Right now there’s a lot of demand not being met.”