BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Autauga County teachers returned to work Monday preparing for a new school year while a potentially transformative question about the future of their school system remained unresolved.
After weeks of public meetings and discussion, Prattville officials have not decided whether to enter a long-term funding partnership with Autauga County Schools or begin creating a separate city school system.
Superintendent Lyman Woodfin told employees gathered for the district’s opening institute Monday that they would focus on the work before them despite the uncertainty surrounding the system.
“We’re going to control what we can and roll on,” Woodfin said he told them.
Students return Aug. 11.
Woodfin said the unresolved question is beginning to affect the county system even as educators prepare for the coming year.
“The uncertainty’s got to get resolved one way or the other,” he said Monday. “What are you doing? What’s your plan if you’re going to do it?”
Woodfin said the longer the discussion continues without a timeline, the more difficult it becomes to recruit employees who do not know whether they would remain with Autauga County Schools or become part of a future Prattville system.
Prattville council members have held a work session, participated in a July 13 education roundtable with school, county and state officials and hosted a town hall last week. They have repeatedly described education as a priority and the decision as one that could shape the community for generations.
But they have not voted to form a city system, committed to a long-term agreement with the county schools or identified how much money they would devote to either option.
Councilor Robert Strichik, who publicly supports creating a city system, said the council still must answer complicated questions involving finances, facilities, buses, employees and the division of responsibilities.
“We’ve got to make that decision, and we’ve got to make it soon,” Strichik said during the July roundtable.
Strichik said the county school board has been asking the city for a decision for months. Continued discussion is necessary, he said, but city officials eventually must determine whether to support the county system or pursue a separate one.
At the roundtable, Strichik said he did not want the meeting to end with “another kick of the can down the road.”
Councilor Wade Newman also said the issue had reached the “end of the road” and warned that residents had told him they might leave Prattville if the community did not address its public schools.
“I don’t want teachers leaving for better school systems,” Newman said during the roundtable July 13. “I want my county and my city to flourish. It is time to unbuckle and both grow.”
Council President Michael Whaley linked the quality of the schools directly to Prattville’s future.
“As our education system goes, so goes our community,” Whaley said. “And if we don’t invest in education and it starts to decline, our community will decline with it.”
Councilors agree more investment is needed. They have not agreed on where it will come from.
Mayor Bill Gillespie has mentioned lodging taxes, lodging fees and possible legislative action. Other discussions have included sales-tax revenue, development fees and changes to existing city allocations.
Councilor Tommy Merrick said he would not support paying for schools by weakening existing city services.
“Weakening one essential service to strengthen another simply shifts the problem rather than solving it,” Merrick said.
He warned that cuts could affect police and fire staffing, roads, drainage, parks, sanitation and other services residents rely on.
Woodfin said the district is not facing an immediate operational or academic crisis. It has strengthened its finances and continues to report solid academic results, he said.
The unresolved problem is facilities. Under its existing revenue structure, Woodfin said, the district could borrow enough for only one roughly $30 million capital project over the next 30 years without help from local governments.
“We’re doing all we can,” Woodfin said at the roundtable. “With the tax structure the way it is, this is our only option.”
Woodfin has not publicly opposed forming a city system. He has instead asked city officials to determine how much Prattville could invest and whether that would produce a stronger system than the one students have now.
He said the consequences of forming a city district would depend heavily on the level of financial support Prattville provides.
A well-funded city system could offer opportunities the county cannot provide under its current tax structure, he said. A minimally funded system could duplicate administrative costs without producing significantly better schools.
The amount Prattville is prepared to invest, Woodfin said, will ultimately determine whether the proposal moves forward and how employees and residents respond.
Autauga County Schools currently serves about 8,500 students. Woodfin said roughly 5,500 live within Prattville, while approximately 700 additional students attend Prattville-area schools but live outside the city limits.
Those students would be among the questions to resolve if Prattville forms its own district.
The debate also comes as Autauga County families have more educational alternatives.
Ivy Classical Academy, a public charter school that opened in Prattville in 2024, continues adding grades and students. Prattville Christian Academy enrolls about 700 students, according to private-school review websites, and accepts state-funded CHOOSE Act education savings accounts.
Woodfin has also said some families have moved from Prattville schools to county schools in Billingsley and Pine Level.
Those figures do not show where individual students previously attended, but they illustrate the increasingly competitive education environment surrounding the county system.
Councilwoman Thea Langley said administrators, principals and parent organizations have worked to keep aging schools presentable, but those efforts cannot substitute for substantial investment.
She said Prattville is no longer attracting families and teachers as it once did and argued that the community must either invest more in Autauga County Schools or create and adequately fund a city system.
“Whatever it takes to bring our schools to a place where they need to be,” Langley said. “Teachers alone can’t do it. We’ve got to step up and do it.”
Social media posts about the possible separation have generated extensive discussion, but the public meetings have not produced a unified demand for an immediate vote.
Only 189 people completed a city survey and council members expressed disappointment in turnout at last week’s town hall. A large majority of those who responded favored creating a city system, but the voluntary survey represented fewer than one-half of 1% of Prattville’s population of 40,000 and was not a scientific poll or referendum.
The possibility of a Prattville city school system is not new. In fact, some efforts trace back to the 1990s. City officials studied it again in 2016, when then-Councilor Jerry Starnes and other city leaders served on a committee examining how a separate system might work.
Several Alabama cities have separated from county school systems in recent decades. Leeds and Trussville left Jefferson County Schools. Alabaster and Pelham separated from Shelby County. Pike Road formed a system separate from Montgomery County Public Schools. Gulf Shores and Orange Beach later broke away from Baldwin County Schools.
Northport has considered leaving Tuscaloosa County Schools but has not done so. Irondale is currently studying whether to form a system separate from Jefferson County Schools.
The Prattville City Council has the authority to create a city system. If the council votes to proceed, the city and county school board would then negotiate the division of facilities, debt, employees, students and other responsibilities.
Woodfin said the county system is preparing for either outcome while waiting for city leaders to choose a direction.
“We’re focused on the school year,” he said. “We’re focused on trying to give the kids and the teachers what they need.”