Competing Narratives Set Tone For TCSS Property Tax Referendum

TUSCALOOSA, AL — It's been a little more than a century since the residents of Tuscaloosa County last voted in favor of raising property taxes to fund county schools. Let that sink in.

It also hasn't been for a lack of effort, either.

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After the most recent failed attempt in 1996 saw Tuscaloosa County vote 2-to-1 against raising property taxes to then go to the Tuscaloosa County School System, voters will once again take to the polls on Valentine's Day 2023 to vote on two amendments that would raise the county's millage rate from the state-mandated minimum of 10 mills to 18.

This comes after the Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a countywide referendum on the matter at the request of the Tuscaloosa County School System — a decision that prompted seemingly as much excitement from the community as it did ire from property owners.

What's more, the push to increase the millage rate follows an effort in Northport for the city to form its own school district. This longstanding campaign platform talking point seemed to have gained traction with a new administration, but has been somewhat derailed following the abrupt resignation of Mayor Bobby Herndon, who has been arguably the most vocal proponent for Northport to break away.

Considering the complexities of the situation, Tuscaloosa Patch took an in-depth look at the issue and spoke with leaders on both sides to separate the facts from social media speculation.

Quick Facts

• If approved by voters, individuals owning a home or property with a $100,000 appraised value would pay roughly $75 more per year in property taxes, while a home with a $200,000 appraised value would be approximately $150 more a year.
• TCSS expects to collect $15 million in additional revenue each year from the 8 mill increase and would use the funding for a wide range of capital projects.
• The date for the special election was chosen to allow TCSS to begin collecting the revenue at the start of the next fiscal year in October 2023 if the measure is passed.

What's At Stake?

Tuscaloosa County School System Superintendent Keri Johnson hasn't been on the job all that long, but has weathered more than most school administrators could have imagined during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

During such a turbulent first couple of years, however, the possibility of Northport breaking away to form its own school system also lingered in the background. The calls for a Northport school system were persisting into yet another decade, all while the county school system was seeing unprecedented growth across its footprint.

Johnson told Patch that areas of particularly high growth can be found in the Northside school zone along Highway 43 in Samatha; Lake View along the I-20/59 corridor on the Jefferson County line; and at Big Sandy Elementary in the growing Hillcrest school zone. It's worth noting that each of these areas have benefitted from substantial residential development in recent years, resulting in enrollment far outpacing the size of current facilities.

"Big Sandy opened less than 10 years ago with space for more students, and now, we've had to bring in portable classrooms," she said. "Whether it's classroom additions or new school buildings, we just need more space for more students."

Big Sandy Elementary opened in August 2013 with 368 students in grades K-5, with the expressed goal of alleviating overcrowding. By the 2021-2022 school year, that enrollment number had ballooned to 447.

Indeed, the lack of actual classrooms is the primary hurdle for TCSS offering pre-K to all of the families of four year olds in the system.

"We're unable to do that now because we don't have enough classroom space to add those pre-K classes," she said. "This would be a tremendous asset to our growing county and the improvements we've proposed would allow us to offer pre-K to all students."

One of the aging schools with noted capacity issues is Walker Elementary — the largest TCSS elementary school by enrollment with more than 700 students and one whose building was first constructed in the 1960s. The elementary school serves a rapidly growing unincorporated community and is so overcrowded that some students have to eat lunch in their classrooms due to a lack of space in the school's cafeteria.

If the tax referendum passes, Johnson said the revenue would be used to build a new elementary school for the Northside school zone to address overcrowding at Walker Elementary.

"Yes, cafeteria space is just one indicator of the facilities issues we're facing," Johnson said in reference to the overcrowding. "TCSS has 14 school buildings that are more than 50 years old and those buildings have seen additions over the years. In some cases, they've seen multiple additions. Those additions do not address the size of the cafeterias, so we're left with cafeterias originally intended to accommodate much fewer students than we have in those schools today."

On Wednesday, Johnson also mentioned other big capital projects that could be funded through the tax increase, including a new Vance Elementary, a new middle school for the Lake View area, classroom additions for Holt Elementary and improvements to athletic facilities at Brookwood High School and Holt High.

Adding new facilities, however, is only a component of the issues faced by TCSS. As Patch reported earlier this month, Holt High School — which moved into a new school building in 2018 — was recently placed on the Alabama Department of Education's list of failing schools for its performance the previous school year. It was one of four schools in Tuscaloosa County to land on the list, but the only within the TCSS footprint.

According to the latest data published by U.S. News & World Report, Holt High's graduation rate of 82% is well below the state median, while the school also lags far behind district and state proficiency in math, reading and science. It's equally crucial to mention that the latest data shows 84% of Holt High students are considered economically disadvantaged.

Johnson insisted that a boost in revenue would be used to improve outcomes for all of its students and cited the example of pre-K programs better preparing students in places like Holt.

"With more local funding, we would be able to reduce our class sizes," she said. "Smaller class sizes are tied to better student outcomes. We would also be able to add art and music across all elementary schools, and more electives at the high school level. These opportunities make a big difference for students."

The latest data reported to the state shows a 17:1 student-teacher ratio for Holt High and all of the other high schools in the Tuscaloosa County School System other than Brookwood, which is at 18:1.

More funding would also mean more teacher positions beyond what the state provides funding for, Johnson said. Along with adding more space, she explained that more teachers would also be required if the school system wanted to add classes like art, music, and electives.

"We would also be able to have more resources for mental health services and school safety," Johnson mentioned. "We have more and more students who have experienced trauma and are coping with significant mental health issues, and it's very hard for them to be academically successful without first getting the care they need."

The Battle Ahead

Sentiments regarding raising property taxes in Tuscaloosa County to fund the county school system have changed little, if at all, over the last three decades.

Indeed, a prevailing attitude that has echoed through the years is that a property tax increase to fund local schools puts an unnecessary burden on homeowners who may not even have a stake in the county school system.

"The quality of schools directly impacts the overall health of a community, particularly from the standpoint of safety and the local economy," Johnson told Patch. "These things impact everyone."

The late Jon Miller, a Coaling resident and well-respected former president of the Tuscaloosa Farmers Federation who died in 2009, led the opposition against raising property taxes ahead of the 1996 referendum. In doing so, Miller underscored the rapid growth and economic impact of the local manufacturing sector as Tuscaloosa County anticipated the possibilities of Mercedes Benz U.S. International in Vance, which would produce its very first vehicle the following year.

Mr. Miller, as it turned out, wasn't wrong. The German luxury automaker transformed the economic landscape of Tuscaloosa, drastically widening a middle class in Tuscaloosa County that continues to grow. Properties in places like Lake View, Northport, Samantha and Taylorville are in higher demand than ever before, with new subdivisions being built at a feverish pace.

Others in opposition to raising property taxes in 1996 also suggested consolidating both the Tuscaloosa County School System and Tuscaloosa City Schools into one school district — a concept that would be an even tougher sell to the public today considering the balance of power in favor of the county and how much Tuscaloosa County has grown just in the last two decades.

"They have got over $6 million of new money coming in next year," Miller told a newspaper reporter after his push to kill the measure at the ballot box proved successful. "All the new industry will make a big difference in the school money, without any new tax. I am very much in favor of doing something for schools. The Farmers Federation is one of the strongest supporters of schools. Schools are needed. However, this is an unfair tax."

The failed measure would have seen five new schools built across the county with the revenue generated.

Conversely, the late Joyce Sellers, who died in 2004 after being the first woman to serve as superintendent of the Tuscaloosa County School System, offered a prescient remark in the immediate aftermath of the 1996 vote.

"We are in a crisis situation with overcrowded, worn out, inadequate school buildings throughout Tuscaloosa County," Sellers said. "Our problem will only get worse if we do not take a dramatic step and build some new schools immediately."

Indeed, several schools north of the Black Warrior River are in need of constant maintenance and fall well short of the standards set by newer TCSS schools. Parents and officials alike have expressed to Patch their frustrations with the state of schools like Collins-Riverside Intermediate and Crestmont Elementary.

Crestmont, for example, does not have heat or air conditioning in its hallways — a symptom that speaks to how schools were designed roughly half a century ago.

Collins-Riverside — one of the oldest TCSS schools that serves the only majority African-American district in the city of Northport — has been perhaps the sorest subject for the community, especially following the construction of the $24 million Northport Intermediate School adjacent to the Tuscaloosa County High campus.

Business owner and Northport District 2 Councilman Woodrow Washington III is the only African-American on the City Council and campaigned on addressing issues with aging schools in his district.

Washington told Patch that he planned to support the property tax increase, but still said he wanted the people of Northport to have the chance to vote on forming a city school system.

"Our schools [in District 2] are getting looked over," he said, before speculating that the county school system intended to close Riverside altogether. "Right now, the people don't want Riverside to disappear. Riverside is important for Black history, so why would you get rid of a school like that with that history? Combining Matthews and Crestmont is fine, but if that's going to be one school, we want it to stay in this area ... As soon as you move the schools away from here, you're going to lose a lot of houses and people are going to leave."

As a point of clarification, Washington's attachment to Collins-Riverside rests more on the name and location, not the old building that property records show was first built in the 1950s. Rather, Washington wants the county school system to build a new Collins-Riverside and continue to honor the history of the school.

"With Crestmont, Matthews and Riverside, they don't need patching, they need new schools," he told Patch. "The schools up [Highway] 43 are all new schools and the racial difference up 43 and this area just is what it is. The school needs to stay in this area. The Rose Lumber property is the largest amount of land it would need to keep it in this area. And Riverside really just needs to stay Riverside."

To Washington's point, with both Riverside and Northport Intermediate now functioning as equivalent intermediate schools at present, the differences in the quality of facilities is impossible to ignore.

As Patch previously reported, Johnson pointed out Wednesday that a property tax increase could help fund a new school in Northport that would allow TCSS to close both Matthews Elementary and Crestmont Elementary, along with building a new school for Flatwoods Elementary.

The dynamics of that 1996 referendum are still talked about to this day, especially amid the current push by Northport to break away from TCSS to form its own city school district.

The failed attempt to pass a 10.5-mill increase has become a regular talking point for supporters of a Northport school system, with many insisting in the public forum that the last time the matter was brought to a vote, it passed in the Northport city limits.

But an examination of the precincts during that special election easily refute such claims, as the majority of voters in Northport's five precincts at the time voted down the measure 2,817 to 2,276.

Where the narrative is indeed valid, though, is that of the 45 precincts across two voting districts split by the Black Warrior River, the Northport Civic Center precinct was one of only two polling locations to vote in favor of raising property taxes. The other was the Vestavia precinct.

Countywide, the measure failed 13,588-6,584. The overwhelming attitude of voters documented at the time centered on a lack of accountability with respect to the county school board, along with doubts over the county being responsible with the money if the property tax increase was passed.

It's also worth noting that the present push for Northport to break away from TCSS has lost a great deal of momentum in recent weeks. As Patch previously reported, Northport Mayor Bobby Herndon shocked his colleagues and the public when he announced he would resign from office at the end of the year after a dispute over a request to rename the stretch of city street in front of his personal office.

The decision to step down just months before the special election effectively removes from the fight the most vocal supporter of secession. It has also thrown Northport City Hall into a temporary state of disarray, with his successor yet to be determined as of the publication of this story.

Still, Herndon's untimely resignation also coincided with the Northport City Council receiving the results of a second feasibility study regarding the proposed split. Officials have been hesitant about releasing the results amid the tumult in City Hall, as speculation runs wild over the differences in the two studies — particularly as it relates to the overall price tag.

In March, the City Council signaled its commitment to gathering as much information as possible for a city school system by committing $100,000 for additional due diligence, which came from revenue generated by the city's 1-cent sales tax.

District 4 Councilwoman Jamie Dykes, who chairs the Community Outreach Committee tasked with researching next steps for the proposed school system, explained to Patch that the study was initially set to be considered by the committee on Monday, but the matter was placed on hold and committee meetings canceled as the City Council considers who on the Council will fill Herndon's unexpired term.

District 2's Washington, also on the Community Outreach Committee along with Dykes and Herndon, confirmed to Patch that he has not seen the results of the most recent study.

Patch reported when the results of the first study were presented to the public last year, as a Shelby County firm told the City Council that it could financially support its own school system. This group of consultants, which worked on similar school system splits in Alabaster and Saraland, had been previously used by the City of Northport for a similar feasibility study roughly a decade before.

Click here to view the full presentation from the 2021 feasibility study.

The assertions presented last summer were met with more skepticism than anything, though, as the study said the estimated budget for a Northport city school system would come out just short of $54 million for the first year.

The study also seemed to overlook the staggering amount of debt the city would have to take on if it did break away, which includes the $24 million Northport Intermediate School that opened in 2021. And while a breakdown of salaries and textbook costs are provided for each school within the Northport city limits, nothing is mentioned when it comes to clarifying the maintenance costs and needs for renovations at the older schools.

"In summary, the question is if there is currently enough funding for Northport to establish an Independent Public School System if Northport got its proportional percentage of the County School taxes," the 2021 study said. "The answer is yes. The answer is yes if there is some start-up money established for that purpose."

It's important to keep in mind that this was also before inflation truly began to surge and before the Federal Reserve, in an attempt to alleviate the problems, began to raise interest rates. The warning signs from economists were there, reflected also in public meetings by rising costs for materials and labor, but the forthcoming economic turbulence did not seem to be incorporated into the high points of the presentation.

Mayor Herndon, though, had some prophetic words of his own after the results of the first study were made public.

"Within the next two years, Tuscaloosa County is going to be requesting for ad valorem taxes to be raised," Herndon said last year "There's going to be talk and there may be discussion about raising ad valorem taxes. But right now, Tuscaloosa County pays the lowest ad valorem taxes that you can pay in the state. Our high school is the poorest 7A school in the state [Tuscaloosa County High School]. We don’t even have an auditorium."

TCSS Superintendent Keri Johnson told the Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday that the increased revenue would be used to build a dedicated performing arts center to be utilized by all of its schools. At present, The Bama Theater in downtown Tuscaloosa has been the de facto performance venue for both the county school system and Tuscaloosa City Schools.

"The Tuscaloosa County High School attendance zone is one of our areas with aging facilities," Johnson pointed out to Patch. "With increased local funding, we would be able to replace some of these buildings. Additionally, all of the other benefits we've talked about would apply to the students in this area - more school resource officers, more pre-K, art and music for all elementary students, dual enrollment scholarships, and more."

Apart from Herndon, Dykes has been another vocal proponent of a Northport school system and has been central in the groundwork for exploring the possibility of a split.

"I applaud Dr. Johnson for taking such a bold step and I’m very grateful for the County Commission’s support on this initiative," Dykes told Patch on Saturday. "The Tuscaloosa County School System is severely underfunded and our students shouldn’t be compromised because of lack of funding. There hasn’t been a change in millage in this county since in the area of 1917. We can, and must, do better as a county and a community."

Johnson also agreed that something must be done and explained the potential longterm implications if the millage rate is not raised.

"TCSS is the largest school system in the state, from a geographic standpoint, and the ninth-largest in student population," she said. "At the same time, we rank at the very bottom of the state in local funding. In a district our size, with 35 school buildings and a growing population, additional resources are necessary to address the needs we have. More than 90 percent of our funding is already committed by state and federal law, so that leaves us very little to address our local needs."

She then went on to say that without additional resources, TCSS will have little choice other than to bring in more portable classrooms to address overcrowding at its largest schools.

"The addition of more pre-K is not possible without more classroom space, so we wouldn't be able to add pre-K in the way we would with more local funding," Johnson said. "We're going to continue doing what we've always done, and look for every possible way to serve our students, but we will be limited without more local funding."

As pointed out by two Tuscaloosa County commissioners during Wednesday's meeting, the challenge heading into election day on Feb. 14, 2023 will be messaging and making sure teachers are vocal in their support, so as to win over the rest of the local electorate.

Johnson concurred, telling Patch that the wish list of capital projects and other initiatives would provide a noticeably positive return on investment for citizens.

"Every student would benefit from increased school security measures like more resource officers, pre-K available to all students, and building improvements that address particular, unique needs in every high school attendance zone," she said.

As property owners across the county mull their support for the proposed property tax increase, Washington lamented the lack of communication from the county school system, but expressed his optimism for the people finally getting a say on the matter.

"My biggest concern is the [county school system] hasn't talked to us about what they want to do," he said, reiterating a longstanding frustration in Northport City Hall. "I'm in favor of [the property tax increase] and I don't have any kids in the system, but I have grandkids, so I think our city can move forward and be a bit stronger if we had our own system. As a city councilman, the only thing I want to do is give the people a chance to vote on it. At the end of the day, they're going to be the ones who decide."

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