Alabama state education officials plan to take over Dallas County Schools, which has struggled for years with turnover and declining enrollment and test scores.

The Alabama Board of Education will vote on possible intervention of the small, rural district at its monthly meeting on Thursday in Montgomery. Districts typically enter state intervention when there are financial or governance issues that can’t be reconciled without outside assistance.

State Superintendent Eric Mackey told AL.com that he recently met with the local school board and expressed his concerns, but he did not provide any details about what those issues were.

State intervention means a local board is no longer in charge of decisions about personnel, finance or operations. Typically, the state will appoint someone to oversee that work with the superintendent.

Superintendent Anthony Sampson told AL.com that the district plans to “work in concert” with the state department. He declined to comment on what prompted the proposal for intervention.

“We just basically await further guidance and instruction from the state department on what our next steps are,” he said.

Dallas County school board members voted on Feb. 27 to comply with intervention if the state board approves a takeover. In its resolution, the board acknowledged that assistance from the state is “in the best interest of all Dallas County School System students.”

Mackey issued a show cause letter to the district on Feb. 21, according to the resolution. AL.com has requested the letter and any additional communication from the state department to the school board.

Currently two other Alabama school districts are under state intervention: Sumter County and Bessemer City.

Sumter County, which is now in its second year of state intervention, is working to consolidate its schools to help curb declining enrollment and rising costs. But it continues to have challenges recruiting staff, Mackey said at a board meeting last month.

Bessemer City, which went under intervention in August, is undergoing board training and has reconciled issues with staff pay, Mackey said. Its accreditation is currently under review after a COGNIA report found several problems with fiscal management and leadership. Mackey told reporters the district will likely be under intervention for a few more years.

Dallas County has seen some growth academically in recent years, going from a 75 on the state report card in 2022-23 to a 79 last year. But five of the district’s 11 schools remain on the state’s “priority list,” meaning they earned either a “D” or an “F” on the latest report card.

The system also appears to have struggled, like Sumter County and Bessemer, with financial issues and declining population; in the past decade, Dallas County’s enrollment has dwindled by nearly 30%. Currently, just over 2,200 students are enrolled in the district, and more than 90% are economically disadvantaged. Officials have recently discussed consolidating schools, according to news reports.

The district’s latest audit, filed in June 2024, cited numerous concerns with financial management, including payments that were not reconciled or made in full, as well as misstated revenues and expenditures. The district also failed to obtain proper bids for up to $4.8 million in professional development services.

In a July 2024 interview with AL.com, Mackey said no other districts were in “imminent danger” of a takeover at the time, but said he was monitoring a few districts that were struggling.

“We never want to get to that place,” he said. “We do massive amounts of work with school districts every day to avoid that. But sometimes it’s the best option on the table.”