VALDOSTA — School consolidation has long been a topic of conversation in the community. Some are vehemently against the decision and others are passionately in support of consolidation.

At the crux of the issue are more than 20,000 students who are a part of both the Valdosta City and Lowndes County school systems.

Students who are striving to learn, succeeding in graduating and some who are struggling to comprehend and ultimately falling through the cracks.

In a two-part series, The Valdosta Daily Times will look into the issue of consolidation.

This week, we look at how the schools compare by the numbers.

Next week, we delve deeper, focusing on desegregation, the creation of the Lowndes County School System, and how the systems and the public feel about consolidation.

These numbers reflect the similarities and differences of both school systems: from annual budgets, the number of Title I schools, the ethnic demographics and graduation rate, etc.

These numbers reflect how we look as a community, to ourselves and to others.

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Budget 2009/2010

$57.9 million: Lowndes County Schools, $57,984,439

$59.2 million: Valdosta City Schools, $59,269,681