ELBERTA, Ala. —Just about all 260 seats in Elberta Town Hall were filled Thursday night as Elberta dignitaries and residents lobbied the Baldwin County Board of education to build an Elberta high school.

According to Elberta Town Councilman Jim Hamby, who facilitated the evening’s program, the town hall meeting had three purposes.

“To make Elberta high school the next new high school built,” he said in the presentation, “to better understand how our taxes fund Baldwin County schools and to find ways for us to work together.”

The councilman said that an Elberta high school would served a student population of 400-800 students living in Elberta, Summerdale and Lillian.

Hamby said that for Elberta students, Foley High schools is “too big, too far and too different.”

The councilman pointed out that the number of Foley high students is about the same as Elberta’s town population, which he deemed “culture shock.”

When expanding on the distance issue, Hamby said traveling to Foley High from Lillian can be a 1.5-hour, one-way trip. He added that Elberta students often have to be at their bustop by 6 a.m., while multiple education studies recommend an 8:30 a.m. start to the schoolday.

Hamby also told the School Board that purchasing property would not be a factor, as 40 acres has been donated for the purpose of building a high school in Elberta.

He also touched on flaws in the school system’s master plan, which had overestimated Gulf Shores High School’s student-population growth and underestimated the same for Foley High School.

Several of Hamby’s points, which included citing studies touting the academic and social benefits of smaller schools, received heavy applause from the audience, which included residents from Summerdale and Lillian.

Following Hamby’s presentation, Baldwin County Public Schools Chief Financial Officer John Wilson discussed the financial aspect of what building a new high school would entail.

With Hamby, he explained that a mill of property tax equals less than $20. He added that building a new school would require that tax to increase.

“We’re willing to pay more taxes,” one man in the audience said, to applause.

Baldwin County Public Schools Interim Superintendent Robbie Owen said the School Board would Thursday’s presentation would be a factor in its upcoming decision on how to earmark funds.

“We’ll make that decision in November,” he said. “We have to analyze all of our schools in Baldwin County. We’d love to give every community exactly what they would like to have.”