SPANISH FORT – A new playground for special education students is open at Spanish Fort High School after being built with money from a property tax approved by area voters.
The playground was dedicated Tuesday, Oct. 12.
Brian Williamson, Spanish Fort High principal, said the facility will be a benefit for the special-education students and the entire school.
“One of the areas that often gets left out that we definitely thought was a need for is doing something for our special needs students,” Williamson said. “One of the things that we really, really wanted to focus on, and we really wanted to do is provide them with a place where they could play and they could come out and they could relax, enjoy and a place that they could call their own.”
He said the playground also improves the appearance of the entire school.
“This area, right now, that we’re in, just less than a year ago, was nothing but weeds and dirt, just a bunch of trash back here that had been thrown back here,” he said.
The playground now includes areas covered in artificial turf, swings that can allow the user to be belted in for safety, benches and tables and other items.
Voters in Spanish Fort approved a three-mill property tax in September 2019. The tax was approved for 10 years. Money from the tax can only be used for schools in the Spanish Fort attendance zone.
Williamson said school officials would not have been able to build the playground without the money from the tax.
“We are extremely grateful to the city of Spanish Fort for voting in the three-mill tax and we’re extremely grateful to the tax committee for approving our proposal to build this special-needs playground,” Williamson said. “We feel like this is going to be a true benefit to our school. We feel like it’s going to be a true benefit to our students. We’ve already started seeing that as they have started coming out here and playing during the school day and just absolutely loving the space that they have.”
John Wilson, chief financial officer for the Baldwin County Public School System, said the Spanish Fort tax generates about $900,000 a year. When the referendum was passed in 2019, education officials said tax was expected to bring in about $800,000 annually.
Fairhope also passed a three-mill tax for schools in that community’s attendance zone in 2019. Voters in central Baldwin County approved a three-mill tax in the Robertsdale High School attendance zone in September 2021.
