TUSCO Commission Approves $40K Each For Northside, TCHS Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Two Tuscaloosa County schools will soon be on the receiving end of increased funding for athletics programs.

The Tuscaloosa County Commission on Wednesday during its regular meeting approved $80,000 in discretionary funds to be split evenly among athletic programs at Tuscaloosa County High School and Northside High School. Both schools are represented by District 1 Commission Stan Acker, who brought the measure before the Commission and saw it approved unanimously.

Acker previously said the $40,000 going to each school will help finance needed improvements and equipment, while helping mitigate the losses in revenue generated by sporting events and fundraisers impacted by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. He also reiterated during Wednesday's meeting that normal revenue from offerings such as concession stands also saw a sharp downturn, resulting in less money for regular purchases.

BREAKDOWN: Click here for a detailed look at how each school will be spending its $40,000.

"This hopefully will help provide some funding to do that," he said.

Tuscaloosa County School System Superintendent Keri Johnson was also on hand to thank the Commission for its support, pointing out another recent contribution in the amount of $60,000 to Hillcrest High made possible by District 3 Commissioner Mark Nelson.

"I know some people think we still have sports and were mad that stadiums were packed, but they weren’t," Johnson said. "We were at reduced capacity ... this year that reduced capacity really did impact a lot to our athletics programs."

She then mentioned, apart from sports, that there are ongoing building projects in every area of the county as well for the school system as it continually works to improve its offerings.

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"We are able to do those because of you guys helping us out with these other things," Johnson said, referring to the recent money given for athletics.

Taking a moment to make his own point regarding the Commission's financial support of high school athletics, District 2 Commissioner Jerry Tingle underscored recent infrastructure improvements in his district, which includes Brookwood High School — another large county school with its own athletic needs.

Tingle said he was recently contacted by a constituent in Brookwood who wanted answers as to why the commissioner had not secured a large lump sum of money for the school's athletics, while the Commission was setting aside discretionary funds for County High, Northside and Hillcrest.

"We put $2.6 million, plus the governor gave me $5.2 million to build a road to connect those schools over in the Town of Brookwood," Tingle said. "Also, this commission put $125,000 to putting fences up and putting grass on the Brookwood High football field, so it's not that I don’t do anything for the schools. But we don’t all do it at the same time. There’s no way we can do it all at the same time."

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