DECATUR, Ga. — As the City Schools of Decatur and residents remain at odds over how to fund a planned Early Childhood Learning Center, state lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to put the decision directly in the hands of voters.
State Sen. Elena Parent sponsored the legislation, which would require that any approval of a $23 million, 40-year bond to fund the facility be decided by referendum in Decatur. The bond also includes another nearly $30 million for modifications to Decatur High School.
Parent’s Senate Bill 625 requires that in order to issue the revenue bonds, voters must approve any project that costs greater than $20 million.
Should the bill pass both chambers and get approved by Gov. Brian Kemp, the City of Decatur would have to request election staff put the question of bond issuance for the project before qualified voters of the City Schools of Decatur district.
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Bond revenue would not be allowed to be used until a majority of voters approve it.
In the state senate, 44 of the state’s 56 senators voted in favor, none against.
Another 12 senators either did not vote or were excused from voting on the measure.
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The Decatur School Board has plans to use the bond funding to pay for the new Early Childhood Learning Center as it shifts its strategy for handling student learning needs and future enrollments.
But in November, a group of Decatur residents began efforts to block the bond issuance.
One of the residents contesting the bond validation by City Schools of Decatur, Leah Humphries, said they challenged the bond in response to what they said were broad concerns about the process.
The $23 million for the Early Childhood Learning Center “represents one of the largest financial commitments in Decatur’s recent history,” Humphries said in a letter sent to members of the community.
In January, a court battle over the bond stalled and intervenors were preparing to appeal when an attorney representing the district announced plans to seek damages and a surety bond over the case if further appeals failed.
Humphries told Channel 2 Action News in January that the bond challenge did not succeed in court and an attorney for the school district sent a letter to the residents requesting a surety bond for the case, which she said “indicated an intention to seek recovery of alleged ‘delay damages’ estimated at $10-15 million,” from the intervenors challenging the bond, “if the appeal were unsuccessful.”
A letter from Robert E. Wilson sent on behalf of CSD said the school board “is obligated to protect the taxpayers from any increased financial costs and to construct the ECLC and DHS projects in the most-effective way possible.”
Additional bond funding for Decatur High School changes would put the total bond approved at $52 million.
Due to the “significant personal financial risk for individual community members,” the intervenors did not continue their appeal.
Now that the Georgia Senate has passed legislation to require a referendum vote by Decatur voters on approval of the bond, the path forward has moved into the Georgia House of Representatives.
Decatur’s legislators, state Reps. Mary Margaret Oliver and Omari Crawford, are also supportive of a referendum. Along with Parent, the lawmakers sent a letter on March 15 to the Decatur City Commission urging a voluntary referendum.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to City Schools of Decatur for comment and is waiting for a response.
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