VALDOSTA — A study conducted to determine the economic impact of a consolidated school system is complete.

The study, performed by consultants hired by the Valdosta-Lowndes County Chamber of Commerce, has compiled research and survey results that will be presented at a Town Hall Meeting on Nov. 17.

The study took 10 months to complete.

To gather information, consultants from the Carl Vinson Institute and the Fanning Institute from the University of Georgia conducted interviews with 17 business site selectors, gave a survey to 345 local chamber members and surveyed other business persons in Georgia cities of comparable size.

More than 1,000 local chamber members had the opportunity to go online and take the survey.

The online survey results had 81 percent of the local chamber members choosing a unified school system. The questions in the survey were developed by the consultants.

At the end of the survey 213 respondents left comments about the survey and the school organization issue. Some that responded felt the effort to consolidate schools detracted from other more important issues relating to education, like a student’s home environment and building more effective schools.

Ten respondents indicated that they felt the survey was biased, with several citing that the survey offered no positives to having two systems, that the questions were written to elicit a unified school system response and that the two separate systems offer parents and students a greater overall choice in education.

The results of the interviews confirmed that the business site selectors have a strong preference for a single, unified, community-wide school, the study stated.

The consultants of the study attempted to interview 65 business site selectors, but only 17 agreed to be interviewed.

Those interviewed cited a unified school system as providing opportunities to form school-business partnerships, allowing businesses to influence school curricula and policy and giving businesses an opportunity to manage scheduling of employees who have school-age children.

Those interviewed also cited that a unified school system would provide the community with an ability to manage issues of diversity and human relations, limit distortions in the housing market and conduct a comprehensive educational improvement effort.

On the overall preference for business site selectors only 5.9 percent of those interviewed preferred the multiple school district form.

Dr. Cynthia Tori, interim head and associate professor of Economics at Valdosta State University, conducted an impact analysis of an increase in African-American students’ graduation rates if the systems were to unify for the study.

The study expected an economic impact per year between zero and $188,243 if the systems are unified with equal racial integration of the schools within it.