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Baldwin County board weighs centralized pre-K center as waiting list tops 400
Summary
Board members debated whether to pursue a single centralized pre-K center near Loxley or build multiple wing additions/centers after staff reported 720 pre-K enrollees and 403 students on the waiting list; cost estimates ranged from about $30'$35 million for a single site to roughly $50 million for multiple wing additions.
The Baldwin County Public Schools board revisited plans for dedicated early-learning pre-K facilities on a lengthy discussion that centered on enrollment pressure, costs and where families would reasonably travel.
Shannon, district staff, told the board: "We have 720 pre-K students currently enrolled for next school year and we have 403 on the waiting list." That enrollment snapshot framed debate over whether to proceed with a previously proposed centralized center on Highway 59 near Loxley or to pursue multiple smaller sites or classroom wings across feeder patterns.
Assistant Superintendent Joe Sharp and other staff said the original approach was to pilot one stand-alone center and, if it worked, expand to two or three strategically located centers. Ashley Collinger, a district staff member who participated in planning, said central Baldwin had some of the largest wait lists and that a single site was proposed as a starting point to test operational needs before building out multiple centers.
Board members who opposed a single consolidated site cited long drive times across the county'which is geographically large'and urged building capacity closer to population centers such as Foley, Elberta and Spanish Fort. One board member described the county as "50 miles wide and 100 miles long" and warned centralized locations would create 30' to 40-minute commutes for some families.
Staff and board members also discussed the practical risks of placing pre-K classrooms inside existing elementary schools. Multiple speakers pointed to Belforest'where pre-K units and new playgrounds were later repurposed to meet K'6 enrollment growth'and said stand-alone centers reduce the chance that non-mandatory pre-K rooms will be reassigned when capacity pressures emerge.
Cost estimates were a central part of the debate. A district planner described a plan to add seven seven-classroom wings (one per feeder pattern) that was estimated at roughly $50 million and would serve about 728 children. By contrast, the centralized single-site plan was described internally as a roughly $30'$35 million project. "We have the money reserved for this budget," Shane, district staff member, told the board regarding the centralized project funding.
Board members and staff flagged other trade-offs: new wings would require additional playgrounds (each priced in staff estimates at about $250,000), could strain cafeteria and dismissal logistics, and would not automatically bring more administrative staff allocations to schools that absorbed additional pre-K rooms.
Several speakers urged caution and recommended waiting until a permanent superintendent is in place to finalize large capital decisions; others pushed to move forward with bids and approval steps. Board members noted the board previously voted in 2024 to advance a plan but paused before accepting bids.
Next steps: board members discussed placing bids on a future agenda for formal consideration; staff said bids would still need board approval if the board chooses to proceed. No final procurement decision was made at the meeting.
