Malia Riggs
Elmore Autauga News
The Autauga County Board of Education voted in approval for a third party to conduct an analytical study of the Autauga County School system for multiple areas within the district.
Criterion Consulting is a firm that works with local school boards throughout the state of Alabama. Their goal is to help improve student education in the state through data driven results, evaluations, training and technology.
Criterion Consulting will perform a study on the Autauga County School system in four areas. The first area will look at restructuring and a zone modification plan involving multiple school closures and new construction projects. The second area would look at data surrounding the restructuring and a rezoning plan utilizing current facilities within the district.
The third part of the study will be an analysis of a potential school system formed by the City of Prattville. This part of the study will look at the impacts on both the City of Prattville and the Autauga County School system. The fourth part of the study will also look at the option of forming a hybrid City of Prattville and Autauga County Schools system and the benefits and drawbacks of that option.
To get a hybrid school system approved, Woodfin confirmed that it would have to go through legislation at the state level. This would also be the first hybrid system of its kind in the state of Alabama. Woodfin confirmed that he has been in contact with hybrid school systems that are currently operational in the state of Georgia.
“I think the study is a good opportunity for us to get an unbiased opinion on where we’re at, and what are some options. If it means we’re the first in the state to try something, then we’re the first. New ideas only work if we try. That’s the mandate we’ve been given by our citizens. I think this is something we need to look into,” Woodfin said.
Currently, there are no agreements or any forward motion on a City of Prattville school system, Woodfin confirmed at Tuesday’s meeting. This is in the very early research and information gathering stages.
Woodfin stated he wants to present all options not only to the Board of Education but to the families, students and parents of Autauga County Schools and residents of the City of Prattville.
“This started with me trying to look around at other states that have the same funding model that we’ve had and funding issues. Criterion, they study these types of things, they’ll give a neutral third-party analysis on all of it,” Woodfin said.
This comes after months of campaigning for an Ad Valorem tax increase for Autauga County Schools, which was voted down by residents of Autauga County last month in the 2024 General Election.
“We promised our citizens that we would look at all funding sources. Honestly, this is the last bucket of money that we have not had access to, and I don’t mean that to be ugly they’ve (the City of Prattville) been great partners. So, I think the prudent thing to do is to look at what that looks like for the city, for us, but let everybody see the data. So, then we can present it to our citizens and we can say look, here’s the data. Here’s the results,” Woodfin said.
Woodfin stated that he has done all the research that he can at this time with the information with which he has access to. Woodfin confirmed that the study is expected to be completed around March of 2025.
“Obviously, the city would have to agree to it. I’m just wanting to enter into this contract with these guys to let them look at everything as a whole so that I can present back to you guys the information,” Woodfin said to the Autauga Board of Education members.
