CALERA, Ala. (WIAT) -- The city of Calera will not create its own school district.
Talks of a Calera city school district came to an end Monday night. Discussion began in 2023 when a study was commissioned to see if the city could support its own district.
Last week, the findings of that study were presented to the Calera city council – Councilwoman Kay Snowden Turner said it was helpful in making a decision.
The bottom line was money. The Calera city council says right now taking on the cost of operating a school district just does not make sense.
“We wouldn’t want to take on that kind of expense without understanding the presidents’ economic policies, without understanding how that will impact the state,” Turner said. “We don’t want to incur debt that would have a negative effect on our citizens."
At Monday's city council meeting there were also parents of Calera students who are concerned about how a Calera city school district would impact their children’s education.
Jennifer Burgett has three children who attend school in Calera. She is relieved the city is not moving forward with a independent school system.
“My concern obviously lies with my son, special needs, autistic, developmentally delayed, sometimes behavioral concerns relating to that. So, obviously he is in a special needs school, which is Linden Nolan, that is operated by the Shelby County school district,” remarked Burgett.
Not everyone was against the idea, Corey Killingsworth thinks a city school system would be great for Calera.
“The city of Calera has so much revenue coming in, when they give it to the county school system it's divided between multiple schools vs the city of Calera could use all of their money straight to the system itself,” remarked Killingsworth.
Councilor Turner says she will now focus on improving the Shelby county school board of education and investing in the schools here in Calera.