Decatur Schools answer big early learning center questions | Decatur

DECATUR, Ga. — The Decatur School Board faced the community on Aug. 28 and answered several hovering questions around the new early childhood learning center set for construction in the district’s greenspace in downtown off of West Trinity Place.

The board answered questions concerning cost, building alternatives and the “why” of the project. The meeting was held in Decatur Housing Authority’s Community Resource Center.

While having been in discussions for several years, the ECLC project’s design was first presented at the school board’s June meeting and came alongside three other planned improvements at Decatur High School that would follow. Those projects include a black box theater, an auxiliary gym and transforming Frasier Center for career, technical and agriculture education classrooms and labs. 

The new ECLC would offer 12 classes for students from birth to prekindergarten, as well as eight observation classrooms, 16 offices, a kitchen, media center, cafeteria and two multipurpose rooms.

Combined, the four project phases would cost $35 million. A second option pitched in August would increase the ECLC’s cost by $8 million, with a $43 million price tag.

While board members made it clear that the ECLC was needed, multiple community members thought there needed to be more community discussion.

To catch up on the ECLC news, click here to read Decaturish’s coverage of the most recent meeting. To see a more in-depth breakdown of the ECLC’s financial impact, pick up a new copy of Decaturish Ink. The article will also be posted onto the website.

The meeting began with a presentation showing that the City Schools of Decatur’s enrollment as a whole is on the decline, similar to surrounding districts. In 2021, the district saw the kindergarten class have less population than the graduating senior class, a key mark to a declining population. Since then, the kindergarten’s population has dropped from 321 to 256 students.

Another slide showed that based on the 2024 Georgia full-time enrollment (FTE) instructional unit allocation, the district is recommended to have 59 classrooms in lower elementary. CSD currently has 94.

Despite this decline, there are about 1,296 zero to four-year-olds in Decatur, but CSD can only support 260 of them with College Heights ECLC and Frasier Center combined, according to CSD’s Vice Chair Hans Utz.

“We are not going to be close to being able to support every single child that is in Decatur but…we have a choice to specifically ensure to the best of our ability that the people that have not had access to early childhood education for reasons like transportation and affordability will be addressed,” Utz said.

Many speakers agreed with the sentiment that the ECLC is needed, and several mothers spoke in support, saying they would utilize it. However, others questioned why the board wouldn’t move the early childhood learning into the underutilized spaces in lower elementary schools, including Westchester.

School Board Chair Carmen Sulton and Utz said that while they considered the options, they cited these buildings’ age and transportation to the Decatur Housing Authority community as challenges that would be addressed by the new ECLC.

“[Moving to an elementary school] does not then solve one of the core problems that we’re trying to address, which is access to affordable early childhood education for members of the community who cannot pay full tuition, and the proximity of the location that we are looking at with ECLC,” Utz said.

Board Member Jana Johnson-Davis and Sulton expressed that the ECLC can help bridge a large equity gap across economic status and race. Some students have not had the access to early childhood learning and, according to Sulton, start nearly three years behind other students who have.

“They will show up at kindergarten with no school exposure, and those are the kids that end up in that achievement gap,” Sulton said.

The cost of the development has been a main point of contention in the community. Some pointed out that the $35 million price tag would be more, including interest. With this design option, the district would pay $2.3 to $2.5 million annually in interest.

Board Member James Herndon said that in a “worst-case scenario” where the district made no effort to cut costs and was paid for all out of pocket, a home appraised at $1 million would garner $39 to $40 extra dollars in taxes each month with seniors still getting a homestead exemption.

Herndon said, however, the district would still be fighting to bring the overall cost down through refinancing and an upcoming Education Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (ESPLOST) approval. ESPLOST VII will be up for a referendum in November 2026.

When discussing whether the ECLC will be tuition-based, Superintendent Gyimah Whitaker said that it is her desire that Decatur Housing Authority families will be able to access the ECLC and through her experience with the organization Leadership Atlanta, there is already funding help to come.

“My Leadership Atlanta class has raised their hand to say we are all in to ensure the 50 seats that will be reserved for families of the Decatur Housing Authority and other low income families will be paid for,” Whitaker said.

Sulton added that while there will be grant funding, philanthropic funding and the Childcare and Parent Services (CAPS) program process to help families with tuition. There will be a varying number of tuition-paying students, but will be a different setup than College Heights, according to Sulton.

Decatur Housing Authority’s Director of Resident Experience Lartesha Chaney gave a speech, and without “taking a side,” spoke about the need to break the current achievement gap and give access to early education to DHA families.

“It has been proven that when and if available, [families] take advantage of these opportunities,” Chaney said. “They show up. They are participating, and they are thriving because of it. As with housing, when barriers are removed, people rise to the occasion.”

City Schools of Decatur will host another community meeting to discuss the ECLC on Monday, Sept.15, from 6:30-8 p.m. at Beacon Hill Middle School’s library.