Decatur Voters May Decide Fate of $52 Million School Bond

The City Schools of Decatur board voted 3-2 on March 27 to keep the public out of a $52 million bond decision. Georgia lawmakers overruled them six days later.

The Georgia General Assembly passed Senate Bill 625 on April 2, the final day of its legislative session, requiring a voter referendum before the Decatur Public Facilities Authority can issue revenue bonds of $20 million or more for CSD projects. If Gov. Brian Kemp signs the bill, Decatur voters are expected to weigh in on the bond this fall.

The bond would fund two projects: a roughly $22 million Early Childhood Learning Center at 346 W. Trinity Place, near Electric Avenue and Commerce Drive across from the Ebster Recreation Center, and approximately $30 million in renovations at Decatur High School, including a new black box theater, auxiliary gym, and additional lab space. The bond would run 40 years.

Sen. Elena Parent, D-Atlanta, filed SB 625 on March 17, three days after she and Reps. Omari Crawford and Mary Margaret Oliver, both Decatur Democrats, sent the CSD board a letter demanding a voluntary referendum to address what they called "dismaying community discord." The Senate passed the bill 44-0 on March 20 before the House took it up on the session's final day.

At the March 27 special-called meeting, Chair Carmen Sulton and board member James Herndon voted against a voluntary referendum; members Lorraine Irier and Tracey Anderson voted in favor. Irier said her yes vote was about rebuilding trust, not opposition to the ECLC. CSD attorney Jody Campbell called the requirement "unprecedented" and warned it set a dangerous precedent for school boards statewide. Parent Marci Roberts, speaking after the vote, said: "With the addition of the high school expansion, we're talking $50 million or more, which is a massive undertaking, so the public should be able to weigh in on that."

The proposed ECLC site carries layers of contested history. The 346 W. Trinity Place greenspace was once part of Beacon Hill, a historically Black neighborhood founded by freed slaves in the late 1860s, and was the location of the Allen Wilson Terrace public housing complex until the city demolished it in 2014. The Beacon Hill GrassRoots Coalition, led by Doris Sims Johnson and descendant Wanda Sims Watters, rallied roughly 40 former and current residents in January 2026 and filed a historic designation application. The Historic Preservation Commission accepted it in February, triggering a construction moratorium. CSD agreed to pause work at the site until April 17.

CSD argues the need is urgent. Of Decatur's approximately 1,296 children ages zero to four, the district's two existing early childhood programs, College Heights ECLC and Frasier Center, can serve only about 260 combined, both at capacity with waitlists. Frasier alone carries a 115-child waitlist. As of 2024, 67 children living in Decatur Housing Authority communities were not enrolled in either program, and a 2021 DHA resident survey found that 20% of respondents could not advance toward college or job training because of childcare barriers.

The new ECLC would hold 150 students: 50 at no cost, 50 at a subsidized rate for CSD staff, and 50 at full tuition. Superintendent Gyimah Whitaker, who joined CSD in April 2023, has made closing the achievement gap for Black students through early learning a central focus of his tenure.

SB 625 now awaits Kemp's signature. The legislation does not specify when the referendum must be held, but if signed, Decatur voters are expected to cast ballots on the question this fall.