Decatur tuition-paying students dwindle down to few dozen

There are only 35 tuition-paying students left in City Schools Decatur, most of them here at Decatur High. That’s down from 160 in 2013, the year CSD stopped accepting new tuition-paying students. AJC file photo

There are only 35 tuition-paying students left in City Schools Decatur, most of them here at Decatur High. That’s down from 160 in 2013, the year CSD stopped accepting new tuition-paying students. AJC file photo

Earlier this month City Schools Decatur set its Fiscal Year 2018 PK-12 tuition at $4,793. The district is still required by law to charge tuition to non-resident students based on a state-mandated formula.

But that number has been dwindling since the CSD stopped accepting new tuition-paying students in March 2013. All existing tuition-paying students at that time were grandfathered in and there are now only 35 remaining.

In 2013 CSD had 160 students paying $5,926 per year in tuition when new tuition was suspended by then-Superintendent Phyllis Edwards because of the system’s rapid growth. Her successor David Dude said he has no plans to reinstate it.

CSD’s K-12 enrollment reached an all-time high of 5,040 in October, an 8.1 percent increase over 2015-16. Enrollment has increased 7 to 12 percent each year since 09-10, which shakes out to an 87.6 percent increase over 2009-10’s enrollment of 2,687.