As the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce looks to prepare Valdosta for a new and progressive future, work has now begun to execute the Chamber’s Impact 2012 Business Action Plan, starting with education.

Developed by the Chamber’s leadership team and more than 70 leaders from local business, education and government entities, the plan’s projected goal is to raise the local economy by $95 million over the next five years.

Under the tier of expansion, workforce development and education is listed as a top priority.

As the committee looked into developing separate initiatives to fulfill this goal, the topic of school system consolidation and its effect on the local economy was a recurring question among the group.

“This plan was developed by those 72 people from our community, and they said this is what our Chamber needs to be working on over the next five years,” said Chamber president Myrna Ballard. “One issue that kept coming up is the fact that we have two separate school systems affecting our economic development. Everyone seems to have an opinion, but no one knows for a fact rather it really does have an effect.”

In an effort to fully study the issue, a task force of eight community individuals, led by Rusty Griffin, was organized in January of this year.

“We believe and the community believes that the Chamber of Commerce is in fact the proper platform to do this study because, they of course, bring unbiased opinions and perspectives of what can be done to improve our community and make it more viable economically,” Griffin said.

Since its organization, the task force has worked to secure the services of outside professional institutions, for the purpose of conducting a study to determine the impact of school system consolidation on economic development.

“One of the things that came out of that study was to evaluate the organizational structure of the school system in our city and county if we continue on the current route that we’re on, and what is the likely economic impact on our community,” said Griffin. “The task force has engaged Carl Vinson Institute and the Fanning Institute out of the University of Georgia to conduct this study, which will include an evaluation in contrast of the economic impact, if we had a consolidated school system. This is really a scientific evaluation of the economic impact of both.”

The task force includes representatives from the professional, business, and ministerial sectors of the community, selected by the Chamber’s Board of Directors.

“These are people in our community that the Chamber felt had the experience, background, judgment and perspective to accomplish this task,” Griffin said. “It is a diverse group that I think well represents the demographics of our community.”

Of those members, none are involved in education directly, according to Griffin, but the task force is making a concerted effort to keep both systems informed of the work and developments of the study.

“We’ve approved the basic scope of their research and they are in the process of conducting research as we speak,” said Griffin. “Hopefully, by mid-year, we should have a report back from them as of their findings.”

While the purpose of the task force is not to endorse any particular direction regarding school consolidation, the Chamber does intend to support the report findings which promote the best economic development plan for Valdosta-Lowndes County.

“There have been some misunderstandings in our community that this task force was formed to consolidate the schools and that’s really not why we are in existence. Our entire thrust is to oversee the study, which is why we hired credible institutions such as Carl Vinson and Fanning,” said Griffin. “If the study finds the city will be better economically if consolidation occurs, the Chamber will absolutely push for that. I think the Chamber has made it known that they have the responsibility to respond to the study.”