By Alabama Public Radio
Saraland, AL – Saraland will leave the Mobile County Public School System and will create its own. Voters passed a non-binding referendum Tuesday by a large margin -- 72 percent to 28 percent. If it leaves, Saraland would become the first community to separate from the Mobile County school system, which is the state's largest. Saraland officials have complained for years that they have not been pleased with their treatment in that system, and they have wanted more local control of their area's schools. The city is working toward complete school system independence by 2009.