School Funding In Hoover: How The System Ranks

HOOVER, AL — Hoover school students have returned for the 2019-2020 school year, and whether they realize it or not, they are lucky to attend schools in a system that has enough help locally in regard to funding. With Alabama ranking at or near the bottom in most funding categories, Hoover residents often have to pick up the slack to fund their schools.

Alabama increased its K-12 formula funding by 1 percent per student last year. But that funding is still far below pre-recession levels: 15 percent less per student after adjusting for inflation.

Alabama was 45th nationally in spending per student at $9,636 in 2018. The Education Trust Fund is funded primarily through taxes, the largest of which are the individual and corporate income tax, sales tax, utility tax, and use tax.

The state divvies up tax dollars through a formula, mainly based on the number of students and schools, but then deducts the equivalent of 10 mills of property tax. That's a big deduction in wealthy areas, where property values are high, and a small deduction in rural areas. It's meant to help poorer systems.

This means that when the economy is hurting, so are Alabama's schools. To make up for budget shortfalls, local school systems have to raise local property taxes to help fund their schools.

Revenue Sources

According to the Alabama Department of Education, here is the breakdown for revenue sources for Hoover City Schools:

• State Revenue Sources: $72,827,838
• Federal Revenue Sources: $7,152,683
• Local Revenue Sources: $104,021,908
• Other Revenue Sources: $27,067,950
• State Revenue Source Per Pupil: $5,250
• State Revenue Source Per Pupil Rank: 126
• Federal Revenue Source Per Pupil: $516
• Federal Revenue Source Per Pupil Rank: 133
• Local Revenue Source Per Pupil: $7,498
• Local Revenue Source Per Pupil Rank: 5
• Other Revenue Source Per Pupil: $1,951
• Other Revenue Source Per Pupil Rank: 12
• Total Revenue Source Per Pupil: $15,215
• Total Revenue Source Per Pupil Rank: 6