Alabama state leaders plan to take over Sumter County schools, according to a state board of education agenda AL.com reviewed Friday afternoon. It won’t be a done deal, though, unless the state board votes to do so.

The intervention would come after years of low test scores and declining enrollment; the county high school has been on the ‘failing’ schools list every year since 2017. State takeovers typically are prompted after the state asks local officials to come up with a plan to correct issues, and local officials are unable to do so.

Past takeovers in Alabama have been prompted by worries about financial mismanagement, student performance, personnel issues and board governance. Alabama’s last intervention was in Montgomery Public Schools, which lasted from 2017 to 2021.

The meeting agenda under “new business” states the board will consider a “Resolution Related to Intervention in Sumter County School System” on Aug. 10. The Board has not discussed the resolution publicly.

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State Superintendent Eric Mackey said he could not comment on the resolution until the board considers it at the meeting. Superintendent Marcy Burroughs, who was hired in July, declined to comment Friday until she had an opportunity to discuss the news with the local community.

The state resolution will list reasons why the state believes intervention is necessary, but the school system has struggled in recent years with academic performance, staffing, financial record keeping, crumbling facilities and competition from a local charter school.

Sumter Central High School and Kinterbish K-8 are among two of the 13 schools statewide where no students scored proficient in math on the spring 2023 state tests.

Sumter Central has the lowest proficiency level in English language arts – 1.6% of students were proficient – of all traditional and charter schools in the state. Proficiency levels in ELA at the K-8 schools range between 19% and 24%.

On the most recent state report card from 2021-22, Sumter County school district earned a ‘C’ with a score of 70 out of 100 possible points, down from 72 points in the 2018-19 school year.

A takeover does not automatically prompt any changes to personnel. The Sumter County school board hired Marcy Burroughs as superintendent in July after Anthony Gardner retired in June. Burroughs had been the district’s school improvement specialist prior to becoming superintendent.

Since 2018, the district has lost 25% of its students, with enrollment dropping from 1,300 students in 2018 to just under 1,000 students last year. Kinterbush K-8 enrolls just 113 students.

Sumter County’s overall population has declined from 12,700 in 2018 to 11,900 in 2022 according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Other Black Belt school districts have suffered similar losses, including Perry, Conecuh and Wilcox counties, each of which has lost more than 20% of its student body since 2018.

Beyond population decline, University Charter School, which opened in Livingston in 2018, also has pulled students from the county public schools. In its first year, UCS enrolled 260 students in kindergarten through eighth grade. The charter school has added one grade level each year, enrolling 600 students in K-12 last year.

In addition to struggling academically, the Sumter County district has shown signs of financial disarray in recent months.

Former Superintendent Gardner in May received official notice that the district had not properly prepared financial records for the 2022 fiscal year, which ended Sept. 30, meaning the Department of Examiners of Public Accounts could not conduct the mandatory annual audit.

The audit team has not returned to Sumter County to complete the audit according to Chief Examiner Rachel Riddle.

Sumter County schools received more than $13.5 million total in three rounds of federal COVID relief funding. Much of it remains unspent according to records available on the state department’s website.

The district spent between $18 million and $19 million each year in 2019, 2020 and 2021 according to publicly available financial reports. Spending increased to $26 million in 2022 and the school board is operating with a $26 million budget again this year.

The district’s chief financial officer left in early summer. No permanent replacement has been found.

School buildings for the district’s three K-8 schools are in poor shape according to a 2021 review by architectural firm Lathan Architects. It is unclear if recommended repairs have been made, but the new school year starts Aug. 10.

The state took over Sumter County schools in 2010 over financial concerns after the Great Recession. It was released from intervention several years later.