Why the City of Decatur was perhaps the only governmental entity left in the entire state of Georgia that still owned school property is a complicated story.  One that I tackled in all of its great detail back in late 2009.

Now you may not remember this – I sure didn’t – but in agreeing to transfer school properties to the City Schools of Decatur (mainly for funding and process reasons), the city had just one request.  If I may be allowed to quote myself (circa 2009)…

While keeping the city commission in control of school property has meant a lot more red tape for all parties over the years, it has allowed the city a final say on school development projects that have an inevitable effect on the city’s overall development pattern. So, in order to retain a voice in the development of school property, the city manager has requested that the city commission approve a zoning change from “residential” to “institutional” for the property, which would “allow the Planning Commission and City Commission in the future to hold public hearings and make recommendations and decisions about any changes to the development footprint.”

While the under-construction 5th Avenue school, along with the middle and high school, are already zoned “institutional”, the six remaining school properties are still seen as “low-density residential” in the eyes of the zoning gods.  They are: Clairemont, College Heights, Glennwood, Oakhurst, Westchester, and Winnona Park.

So, as requested back in 2009, Superintendent Phyllis Edwards will go before Decatur’s Planning Commission in a couple weeks and ask for this zoning change for these six properties.

You may have seen those lovely, scribbled white signs on planted in school lawns over the past few days and wondered what the heck they were announcing to their reading public.  Well, now you know!

The City Schools of Decatur often prides itself on the many things that make it stand out from other Atlanta and Georgia school systems; charter status, teacher retention, a nationally renowned walk/bike-to-school program, just to name a few.

But there’s at least one unique characteristic that the school system wished it could shake – it’s quite possibly the only school system in the state of Georgia that doesn’t hold the title of it’s own buildings.

As Assistant Superintendent Thomas Van Soelen notes, “Although there may be others, we don’t know of any other Georgia school districts that do not own title to land. CSD built the buildings, maintains the property (inside and out), but cannot take advantage of opportunities that owning title offers.”

So, who owns the property?

You’ll have to look across town to City Hall for the answer.  Yep, the city holds all school titles.  Why? City Manager Peggy Merriss explains…

“The City Schools of Decatur were formed as part of the charter of the City of Decatur and do not have a charter separate from the City….the Superintendent was appointed by the Board of Education, the Board was appointed by the City Commission and the City Commission actually approved the School System budget.” This setup gave the city control of school property “so that an appointed board could not acquire or dispose of property without elected body oversight.”

All of that was fine and dandy up until about 15 years ago when Georgia added a state constitutional amendment that required that all school boards across the state be elected and all superintendents be appointed.  This statewide legislation turned the school board, which was once just an arm of Decatur’s city government into a relatively separate functioning body overnight.

However, many of the old structures of government have remained in place, among them school property title ownership.  And over the years, CSD has struggled with this awkward ownership set-up.  Van Soelen notes “CSD does not have its own Bond rating on Wall Street. Instead, we collaborate with the city in order to acquire needed capital. Even a recent example, the College Heights Early Childhood Learning Center, required an extensive process with the city in order to work with the Patillo Foundation (Early Learning Property Management). The city needed to lease us the land in order to arrange for the financial agreements with Patillo.”

So while this process has been functional in the past, with two elected boards making decisions, at times it hasn’t been all that efficient.  And that is how the upcoming renovation of 5th Avenue Elementary has brought this complicated relationship to a head.

With Decatur’s student enrollment on the rise, and the approved school reconfiguration hinged on a reopened and renovated 5th Avenue Elementary by the 2011-2012 school year, CSD’s administration and school board are more anxious than ever to acquire school property titles with hopes of speeding up the process.

Back in early September, the Superintendent sent a letter to the Mayor asking about renewing talks about CSD acquiring school titles, in the midst of the 5th Avenue renovation.  The city has responded and during tonight’s city commission meeting will discuss and vote on whether it should take a first step in rectifying this issue by transferring the 5th Avenue’s property over to the Board of Education.

However, there looks to be at least one condition the city will include if they decide to transfer the deed.

While keeping the city commission in control of school property has meant a lot more red tape for all parties over the years, it has allowed the city a final say on school development projects that have an inevitable effect on the city’s overall development pattern. So, in order to retain a voice in the development of school property, the city manager has requested that the city commission approve a zoning change from “residential” to “institutional” for the property, which would “allow the Planning Commission and City Commission in the future to hold public hearings and make recommendations and decisions about any changes to the development footprint.”

So tonight may be the night when CSD finally begins to see some resolution on this long-standing issue.  But don’t think that everything will be resolved after a vote tonight.  While the future ownership of 5th Avenue Elementary may be decided, the Superintendent and school board have been very upfront about wanting to acquire titles for ALL school property.

5th Avenue may be just a first step toward that ultimate goal.