DEKALB COUNTY, Ala. (WHNT) — A new school system might be on its way to one city in DeKalb County.

The City of Rainsville is looking at possibly starting up its own school system as DeKalb County continues to grow.

The conversation surrounding a Rainsville city school system isn’t new but the idea resurfaced recently as the county has seen considerable growth.

Rainsville Mayor Rodger Lingerfelt told News 19 the population in Rainsville is now over 5,500 people but the students who live there attend schools in the DeKalb County Schools district.

Lingerfelt says in order for the city to have a city school, it’s going to cost money.

“One thing, the start-up money would have to be close to $3 million, between $2.5 to $3 million,” he said. “That would be a start-up fee that would help us get through the first year. That’s not coming back to the city.”

One parent said for her, the idea of a Rainsville city school is about convenience.

“I think it would be pretty cool,” the Rainsville mom said. “My kid is gonna be moving from Sylvania to Rainsville, and I think it becoming a city school would be pretty cool.”

If the new system starts up, Rainsville residents would have to agree to nearly double the property taxes to fund the new education system.

“The property tax, I’m not saying we need to raise it, I’m saying this is the thing that you have to do,” Lingerfelt said. He says the city is currently bringing in around $10-$10.5 million in property tax but, “It really needs to be close to say, $20-$30 million property tax and that is just the city limits of Rainsville.”

Currently, the mayor said this is all just a conversation.

Lingerfelt said the city just looking at these ideas with the DeKalb County Board of Education and talking to citizens about their needs.

If Rainsville citizens are interested in learning more about the study completed by Criterion K-12 Consulting, they can locate that information on the Rainsville City website.