Why leaders think Richmond County has too many schools

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) - Round two of the five-year master plan public meeting was underway Tuesday night.

Before the meeting, we talked with Richmond County Board of Education President Charlie Walker about why the plan is needed.

“I would think that they would want to try to maximize everything that we possibly can within our budget. To make sure that all the programs that those kids should be afforded are in that school,” he said.

For schools to receive state funding, they must meet a certain enrollment number. Sixteen elementary schools, six middle schools and four high schools do not get funding because their enrollment numbers don’t meet the state minimum.

“We have too many facilities, and we have a declining student population. Now, that doesn’t mean that it’s in a freefall, but it is steadily declining year over year over year, and our consultants have shown us that,” he said.

The state has a standard capacity number for each school.

The 28 elementary schools in Richmond County can hold 15,415, but only 12,732 are enrolled.

The eight middle schools can hold 6,870, but only 4,478 are enrolled. The eight high schools can hold 11,078, but only 7,550 are enrolled.

“You can’t have more students in a school and not have the appropriate number of educational staff to be with them and the teachers to be with them,” Walker said. “So those teachers will just be reassigned.”

Following the first meeting, Monique Braswell, a candidate for the school board, says that even though schools have to be closed, this is what’s best for the students.

“History means everything to everyone. But at the end of the day, we have to think about these children and their history. We have our history. It’s about these children at this point,” she says.

She also wants as many resources on the table for every school.

“When we went to school, we had every resource we needed. The children today are entitled to have every resource,” Braswell said.

She sees the value in these meetings and how the district is treating this differently than others.

“They wanted to get all the input. They have never done a meeting like that where the people could stand up there and say exactly what they needed to say. Ever. Now they’re getting the opportunities. I watched someone take 31 minutes. They didn’t even stop them. They didn’t stop anybody. You know, we’ve never had that before,” she said.

Round two of the meetings brought Mackie Sinkler to hear the plan and ask what was going on moving forward.

“I understand the cost piece of it. I understand, I guess, the math behind what they’re trying to drive to. My concern is right now, there’s a clear plan on maybe the reorg but not a clear plan on what specific benefits are going to result from this reorg,” Sinkler said.

He has three kids in the district and wants to make sure what they say is going to happen, happens.

“Two years from now, when we have to look back and see, you know, what good came from these real wars. That’s hard to identify with not being specific upfront,” he said.

The next meeting is Wednesday at 6 p.m. at Tutt Middle School to talk about Tutt and Langford Middle School’s impacts.

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