Two new schools in DeKalb County may not happen. This is why…

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The DeKalb County School District is recommending an about-face and not using sales tax money to build two new schools north of Interstate 85.

So now the school board will have to decide if it needs to build Cross Keys Middle School and Shallowford Elementary School.

Channel 2′s Richard Elliot obtained a copy of a reporter by DeKalb County Schools which shows their initial pre-pandemic enrollment projections missed the mark.

Right now, they have a total elementary school capacity north of I-85 of around 10,000 students, and they thought that number would balloon especially seeing the peak of 10,400 students in 2019.

So they believed they needed a new middle school and a new elementary school.

The county projected that surrounding schools like Dunwoody Elementary School would be bursting at the seams, but now, four years later, that hasn’t happened.

But the county said schools further west and south of that site, like Montgomery Elementary, they say more capacity is needed.

Their new projections show that there may not be more than 9,100 students through 2030 at least.

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So they’re recommending the school board nix the two new schools and use that money to complete much-needed projects at other schools across the county.

In a statement to Elliot, the district said “Based on declining student enrollment data through 2030, two previously proposed projects have been recommended not to be constructed at this time. The current seating capacity in those areas is forecasted to be sufficient.”

Spoke with parents just down the street from that proposed elementary school site and as expected, they weren’t fans of the idea of halting construction before it even began.

“I don’t agree with the school down there. They do need more options in the area,” parent Sheaniese Saunders said.

“I think the more schools the better, so I wish they would’ve kept their word and gone with the school,” parent Natalie Rodriguez said.

Right now, this is only a recommendation made to the school board. It’ll be up to the school board itself to decide if it will reallocate that SPLOST money to other projects.

That could happen next month.

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