Vestavia Hills school officials on Monday plan to present their proposed budget for fiscal 2025 in the first of two public hearings the district will have.
The plan is to spend $121.6 million in public money in fiscal 2025, including $100.4 million from the general fund, $11.8 million from the special revenue fund and $9.5 million from the capital projects fund, according to a budget presentation on the school system’s website.
That would be an 11% increase from the 2024 total budgeted expenditures of $109.6 million.
Public revenues are expected to be $117.9 million, up 8.9% from the $108.3 million in budgeted revenues in 2024.
While expenditures are expected to be $3.7 million higher than revenues in 2025, the school district this summer received more than $7 million in state “advancement and technology” money that it plans to use for capital projects in fiscal 2025.
Revenues for the general fund in 2025 are expected to be $103.6 million (8.7% higher than the 2024 budget), and the district plans to spend $100.4 million of that (a 3.7% increase from the 2024 budget), the budget shows.
By the end of fiscal 2025 — Sept. 30, 2025 — the school district plans to have $16.7 million in its general fund reserve. That’s equivalent to two months of operating expenses. The state requires a one-month reserve fund, but Vestavia Hills school officials have been trying to strengthen their reserves. The Hoover school system as of the end of June had more than a 10-month reserve, though that is expected to decline by the end of the fiscal year.
REVENUE GROWTH EXPECTED TO SLOW
While the Vestavia Hills school district’s general fund budget has had above average state and local revenue increases the past several years, school officials say they don’t expect that to continue.
The 10-year average growth of local property tax revenues has been about 4%. However, in some years, the district has seen very little growth, and the Alabama Legislature has passed a law that places a cap on property tax growth at 7%, which will eliminate the higher revenue growth years that have recently been experienced.
As The Bray development continues to happen, that will have a positive impact on property tax revenues, but employee health insurance costs that are paid by the school system likely will increase next year, which could have a significant impact on personnel costs, school officials said in their written budget presentation.
Overall expenditures have been increasing at a rate of about 4% per year.
Personnel costs make up about 79% of the school system’s general fund budget.
The 2025 budget includes the state-mandated 2% raise for all employees, but the Vestavia Hills Board of Education also approved additional raises for teachers of 2% or 3% more, depending on the teachers’ level of education. Some teachers may get even more of a raise due to some other adjustments in the pay scale made to make Vestavia Hills more competitive with other school districts, Superintendent Todd Freeman said.
Custodians received a 4% raise, day care supervisors received a 5% pay increase, and child nutrition workers go significant raises, Freeman said.
The school board also approved raises for Freeman, Chief Financial Officer Courtney Brown and other central office staff.
The 2025 budget also includes new teacher positions created to maintain optimal numbers of students in classrooms, additional teachers to maintain optimal caseloads for exceptional education teachers, and additional para-professionals to support the exceptional education program.
The school board added a new science, technology, engineering and math teacher at each elementary school, as well as an additional health science teacher, a theater production teacher, a program specialist for the exceptional education program, two board certified behavioral therapists and one instructional partner for each school.
The Vestavia Hills school system now has a total of 923 employees, including 525 teachers (115 of whose salaries are funded completely with local money instead of state money). The overall student-to-teacher ratio is 13 to 1.
Vestavia Hills City Schools receives about 55% of its general fund revenues from city and county revenues, compared to 44% from the state.
The 2025 $9.5 million capital projects budget includes a focus on energy management retrofits that include building automated controls, building insulation and water conservation. These projects provide an immediate return in efficiency of utilities which will provide a savings back to the school system, school officials said. Other projects include security improvements, retrofitting the theater rigging system at Vestavia Hills High School, canopy replacements, technology infrastructure, bus replacements and various minor improvements to facilities.
The district’s five-year capital improvements plan includes $176 million worth of requests, with funding sources not identified for most of them.
That lists includes:
- $39 million for energy improvements
- $21 million for a new band room and cafeteria at Vestavia Hills High School, including conversion of the existing band room to a new choral space and conversion of the existing choral space to a theater class.
- $20 million for roofing retrofits
- $20 million for a classroom addition at Vestavia Hills Elementary Cahaba Heights
- $20 million for a wrestling room at Vestavia Hills High School
- $10 million for a classroom and locker room addition at Pizitz Middle School
- $9 million for a multipurpose space at Liberty Park Middle School
- $6 million for a multipurpose room at Vestavia Hills Elementary West
- $6 million for a multipurpose space at Vestavia Hills Elementary East
- $6 million for a multipurpose space and classrooms at Vestavia Hills Elementary Liberty Park
- $2.6 million for Promethean digital whiteboards
- $2.5 million for Vestavia Hills High School baseball bathroom and concession stand improvements
- $1.65 million for security improvements
- $1.15 million for network infrastructure
- $1.13 million for painting interior and exterior spaces
- Numerous other projects (Click here to see the complete list in the five-year plan.)
School officials also are budgeting $5 million to pay off debt in 2025.
The 2025 budget also includes a separate $2.25 million expense category called the expendable trust fund, which covers nonpublic monies collected for local school activities, includes fundraising and concession sales for specific activities, student organization fees and private donations.
Monday’s public hearing on the 2025 budget proposal is scheduled during the regular August school board meeting, which begins at 4 p.m. at the central office at 1204 Montgomery Highway. A second public hearing is scheduled for noon on Sept. 9.
Click here to see the complete fiscal 2025 budget proposal for Vestavia Hills City Schools. (There are numerous documents to view).
