Fairhope Independent School District?

A group of fed-up parents sent a letter to Fairhope Mayor Tim Kant and the city council, asking them to conduct a feasibility study on breaking away from the Baldwin County Board of Education and forming their own, independent school district. The group says their worried about the county school district's 56 million dollar budget shortfall.

"It's very alarming," says Diana Brewer, a Fairhope parent. "The class sizes are very alarming, the cutbacks, the extra-curricular activities and we don't know what's going to come down the pike in the future, but we do know that it's very serious and it's just not acceptable."

City leaders would not talk to News 5 about the 25-thousand dollar study or if there's money in the budget to approve the group's request, but supporters of the idea say the study would be beneficial.

"It'd be money well, well spent and I think we'd learn a lot from it," says Brewer. "It all comes down to funding, but if we don't have the funding, they'll get a decent education, we just want them to have the best education."

The Baldwin County Board of Education says they understand and respect the group's desire to form their own school system, but they say the county is better prepared to educate students.

"It's not as easy as it may appear to have an independent school system," says Terry Wilhite, director of communications for the school district. "We contend that we're always better working together than independently."

Mayor Kant and the city council will discuss the study this week.