By Bill Weaver
Monroe County Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jim Finch is a worried man.
It might not keep him up at night or show in lines on his face, but beneath that graying beard there is concern.
Enrollment is up yet again this year. As of Aug. 20, Monroe’s student enrollment was at 4,701. That’s a 15.3 percent increase since 2018-19.
The county’s population growth shows no signs of slowing. From 2020 to 2023, the Census Bureau estimated Monroe County gained nearly 2,700 residents – enough to fill 60 percent of the seats in Dan Pitts Stadium. At 30,625, Monroe is now larger than any of its seven contiguous counties, except for Bibb.
Many classrooms are full, and more are under construction. But so far, classroom space is mostly keeping up with demand, and the customers seem pleased.
“This community loves the school system,” said Finch, who spent 15 years as principal of Mary Persons. “A lot of the people went to Mary Persons High School. They enjoy the success, they enjoy the pride that goes into this community’s school system, and people feed off that.”
The high school and elementary schools are big enough for now. However, “The area where we’re actually running out of space is at the middle school,” Finch said. That’s despite the school system building 14 additional classrooms there three years ago.
The superintendent said the ideal capacity of the middle school is about 1,050 students, but the official enrollment there in 2022-23 had already reached 1,081.
Each of the three grades in that building – 6, 7 and 8 – has its own wing, and the practice has been to extend all three at the same time. But Finch said, “We’ve run out of room on the sixth grade hall.” Extending that hall would impact the parking lot and/or the soccer field.
A new five-year facilities plan will be reviewed soon by the Board of Education, which must decide how to address the issue. Finch declined to reveal what’s in that plan as the board hasn’t yet reviewed it.
The elementary schools have room to grow, at least for the time being. K.B. Sutton Elementary, which collects students from east Monroe, has a capacity of about 800 students, Finch said. Hubbard Elementary, serving northwest Monroe, and T.G. Scott Elementary, serving south Monroe, both have capacities of about 1,000 students.
The Mary Persons High School building is 41 years old. It was built for about 900 students, Finch said, but grades 9-12 had an official count of 1,346 students in the 2022-23 school year, according to the Governor’s Office of Student Achievement.
The freshmen campus concept, adopted some 18 years ago, has been a relief valve to the high school building, as ninth graders are housed in a separate building. Today, with the high school building, freshmen campus and the facilities acquired by the purchase of the former Monroe County Academy, finding space for 1,346 high school students isn’t a major headache.
Additionally, construction of the new Freshman Campus and the College and Career Academy – now going up to the south of the Fine Arts Center – will provide adequate space for high school students, at least in the near term.
That’s not to say that all facilities are in tip-top shape.
“We have a lot of aging infrastructure, and we’ve kicked the can down the road because all we’ve tried to do is make budget, make budget, make budget, make budget,” Finch said. And making budget is often a challenge, especially when revenue sources suddenly change, as when the school system lost $5.1 million annually, in property tax revenue when two power companies pulled out of Plant Scherer.
There is reluctance to increase the millage rate and there are limitations in how state funds may be spent, as there are with how revenue can be spent from the education special purpose local option sales tax (ESPLOST).
Fixing old things that break may not be affordable this year, so those cans get kicked to the next budget year.
“If you’re going to do that for a while a hidden cost is accruing somewhere. We know where it is – it’s HVAC units.”
New heating and air conditioning units would cost from $40,000 to $80,000 each. Flat roofs on the buildings also need maintenance, and there are “cosmetic issues” needing attention like new flooring, painting and lighting. Additionally, he said the “curb appeal” of the older buildings cannot compare with the beauty of the Fine Arts Center.
In short, the system is better than it looks in some places.
“Our community’s pride and commitment and love for this school system, our teachers’ performance, our educators’ performance and our students’ achievements don’t match our facilities,” Finch said.
If the county and school system’s enrollment continues to grow, Finch was asked if he would recommend construction of a second high school.
No. Two high schools would divide the loyalties of the community, he said.
“We could grow to be a 1,800 to 2,000-sized Mary Persons if we need to. Then we’d have to do a lot of facility expansion. We’d probably have to put in another elementary school somewhere and probably go back to the two middle schools concept. … But I really think they all need to funnel into one high school.”
Currently, that enrollment funnel is upside down – the narrow spout end is at the upper grades, the wide bowl end is in the lower grades.
Mary Persons High School said goodbye to its largest graduating class in history this past spring – 294 graduates – but there are more students than that in the lower grades of the funnel.
Finch said much of the population growth is coming from Henry County, a trend he’s been told is also occurring in other counties to the north of Monroe. Families are moving into affluent subdivisions such as River Forest, Riata and River Walk.
While south Monroe is also seeing growth, Finch said many of those parents are coming from Bibb County, where they attended private schools, and that’s where those parents are sending their own children as well.
The housing construction in Monroe County is going on despite relatively high mortgage interest rates — in the area of 6-7 percent — so the more affluent families can build and afford to move. When the rates come down, more people will be able to afford a new house.
That’s Finch’s concern.
“What worries me right now is if those interest rates drop below 5 or 4.5 percent. (If so), you aren’t going to build (houses) fast enough.”
That could mean a few more gray hairs for that beard.
