History of Auburn City Schools

After an informal referendum on May 25, 1959 in which the citizens of Auburn overwhelmingly voted to favor a new city school system (521-8) and a tax increase to support the system (468-48), the Auburn City Council established the Auburn City School District on October 3, 1961. The school district began operations for the 1962-1963 school year, assuming control of eight schools from Lee County on October 1, 1962. The Auburn City School Board immediately began planning for the construction of a new Auburn High School to alleviate the overcrowding, with Auburn voters approving taxes for that purpose in 1965.

Closure and consolidation of outdated schools brought the Auburn City Schools to six campuses by 1983. Expansion of existing school campuses kept up with growth until the 1992 construction of the Auburn Early Education Center, the state's first large public kindergarten-only facility. New elementary schools were constructed in 1998 (Yarbrough & Ogletree) and 2008 (Richland) while expansion of other campuses continued virtually non-stop from the 1990s into the 2010s.

Now at 14 campuses city-wide, ACS is made up of 10 elementary schools that are set up as sister schools that feed into one another; with Drake Middle School serving 6th grade only (five K-2, five 3-5), one middle school, one junior high and one high school. The new Auburn High School opened its doors in the fall of 2017 at 1701 East Samford Avenue, triggering a shift in campuses where the previous high school now serves as the new junior high, and the previous junior high serving as a 7th grade facility.