DeKalb superintendent calculates
DeKalb County Superintendent Michael Thurmond on Monday revealed the school district’s calculations of the costs of an annexation movement that would take one of the county’s wealthiest unincorporated areas into the city of Atlanta.
The proposed annexation of the attendance zones of Fernbank and Briar Vista elementary schools, which include the Druid Hills neighborhood near Emory University, would “disenfranchise” and displace 3,000 of the district’s roughly 100,000 students, while also raising the property tax burden for some elderly homeowners in the annexed area, the district said.
The new report, posted prominently on the home page of the district website, also says students who are not part of the annexation would lose access to facilities such as the Fernbank Science Center and its planetarium. Also, the district would lose valuable properties, including Adams Stadium and surrounding buildings on land worth an estimated $50 million.
About the Author
Ty Tagami is a staff writer for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Since joining the newspaper in 2002, he has written about everything from hurricanes to homelessness. He has deep experience covering local government and education, and can often be found under the Gold Dome when lawmakers meet or in a school somewhere in the state.
