News photo by Crystal Nelson Amy Corbin, second from right, president of the Atlanta Community Schools Board of Education, speaks during a special board workshop between the Atlanta school board and the Hillman Community Schools Board of Education held on Monday in Atlanta.

ATLANTA — Talks about whether Atlanta Community Schools and Hillman Community Schools should consolidate are underway.

Trustees with the Atlanta and Hillman boards of education on Monday spent nearly 90 minutes discussing the potential for consolidation, before agreeing each board should vote on whether to pursue the matter further during its next board meeting.

No formal decisions were made during the special workshop held in Atlanta.

Several trustees with the Atlanta school board discussed how the merger could bring more opportunities for kids while many trustees with the Hillman school board were concerned about how a merger would impact their community.

Carl Seiter, superintendent for both school districts, told trustees discussions about consolidation arose as the Hillman school board is determining the specifics of a property tax Seiter said the board should pursue for facility improvements.

The current property tax expires in 2023, and Seiter said discussions regarding the future of the two school districts need to occur before the Hillman school board can move forward with their facility improvement planning.

Seiter said the boards would be doing the communities of Hillman and Atlanta an injustice if they did not at least discuss consolidation.

Seiter said there are currently 444 students enrolled in Hillman schools and 252 students enrolled in Atlanta schools.

Many trustees on the Atlanta school board talked about the opportunities consolidation would bring for students in both districts, including the potential for new classes, such as art, and more foreign language opportunities for students.

Jessica Kent, trustee with the Atlanta school board, said students would also have more opportunities in athletics because there would be more students to try out for and to play on sports teams.

Both school districts currently play eight-player football and field teams in sports like softball, baseball, volleyball and girls and boys basketball.

John Kaszonyi, trustee with the Atlanta school board, said he would like to see data drive the decision making.

Kaszonyi said there are mandates from the state that school districts have to meet, including unfunded mandates. Meanwhile, he said, the cost of school operations continues to increase.

“We tend to look at what we’re dealing with right now,” he said. “But the reality is, if we’re going to look at any kind of an operation, going forward on the lean budgets that we’re forced to operate under, we have to look at our future data as well as our current data.”

Luke Sitton, trustee with the Hillman school board, provided data showing both districts had experienced declining enrollment over the past 15 years, although it was not clear where that data was from.

Sitton pointed out there has been a decrease in enrollment statewide and that the problem isn’t unique to Hillman and Atlanta.

“Being a small school, not being able to offer a bunch of different courses and having different specialized programs… We’re in the same boat with a bunch of other communities,” he said.

He also raised concerns that property values could decrease if the districts consolidate. He said the decrease in property value would be tied to transportation.

Hillman school board Vice President Jack Matthias said he believed the enrollment declines have bottomed out, and doesn’t think the districts should be “all doom and gloom” about where they are in terms of enrollment. He said both schools gained students in the last year.

Hillman school board President Kelly Burwell said she heard from many parents who are concerned about class sizes, teacher layoffs, and increased transportation costs to drive their students to school if the districts merge.

Burwell said there is also concern among board members that if the district loses its property tax, it would not be passed again.

Seiter said before consolidation could even take place, voters in both school districts would have to decide whether they support the consolidation or not.

Seiter told trustees consolidation is an emotional issue for school employees and for community members and creates fear. He said he doesn’t want to keep the fear of consolidation out there if the boards don’t want to continue talks.

Seiter said he’s afraid that just discussing consolidation could be enough to make teachers consider leaving.

“If that is enough to put fear in our teachers minds, the last thing we could afford is to have three of them take off for another school district — not so much your veteran teachers but the younger teachers,” he said. “So the quicker we decide to push forward or not do this — the longer we let this linger — the more it becomes a problem for me.”