MPS Leaders Respond to Declining Enrollment Numbers

Data collected by the Alabama Department of Education reveals that Montgomery Public Schools is shrinking, and we know that enrollment numbers have been dropping for many years now.

MPS Superintendent Dr. Ann Roy Moore says the biggest factor in this decline is the opening of Pike Road Schools.  Every year the system loses students to Pike Road as the new school system expands, but she says the ongoing state intervention also plays a role.

“My goal as superintendent is to help the system come from under intervention and to meet all of the requirements of AdvancedEd,” she explained.

Republican Candidate for MPS Board District 5, Jannah Bailey says  she’s concerned with the declining numbers.   She’s in favor of raising property taxes to support the school system but says the board needs to prove itself.

“We’re going to have to gain the trust of the community and show a little more accountability with how we’re spending the dollars, one just getting a budget out,” Bailey shared.

Her opponent Rhonda Oats says system leadership is one of the reasons for the decline, but agrees that the community needs to be on board 100 percent to turn the numbers around.

“The community is so split when you talk about the public school system, they want to have fixes, they want to have quick fixes but we need to get something and put it in place,” Oats explained.