What's New? Hoover School Community Information Network

From the article: "Nine months into the fiscal year, Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos has submitted a budget proposal to the City Council that would eliminate all funding for the Hoover school system for this year and the next."

The Council will meet to vote on the Mayor's budget proposal on Monday, July 6, at 6:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers.

Just a quick historical note: in December of 2004, just prior to Winter/Christmas break, this Council (minus Mr. Greene) and this mayor changed the way the city funds the schools. The City Council used to appropriate 16% of sales tax revenue to our school system. Saying that the city was strapped and needed the additional money, the Council stole $6.2 million from the school system in FY05, although they promised to "give it back"....they never did.

The Council instead decided to fund the schools with a one-time contribution (paid in monthly installments) of $7.5 million in FY06. The contribution in FY06 was in addition to what is commonly referred to as "front door fees", which is a fee the city collects for every house that is built in Hoover. The total collected for "front door fees" in FY06 was $1.6 million, bringing the total City Council contribution to $9.1 million. If the prior funding structure had been used, the contribution would have exceeded $10 million.

However, when the Council contribution of $7.5 million was made for FY07, the "front door fees" were a part of that $7.5 million. The Council then appropriated $7.5 million for FY08, again including the "front door fees" instead of making the appropriating in addition to them.

Superintendent Andy Craig, anticipating a drop in revenues for the City of Hoover, believed the City would appropriate $7.1 million for our community schools in FY09. (See story below from May for more details.)

Contact information for your Hoover City Council members is found here.

It is our hope that Mr. Craig will make it clear to this City Council and Mayor and to those who care about our Hoover City School system exactly what this funding cut will mean to the schoolchildren and employees of the Hoover City School system. Mr. Craig and Chief School Financial Officer Cathy Antee, along with our Council-appointed Board of Education are in the best position to tell all of us what impact this funding cut will have on our school system.

Local support is crucial to maintaining excellence in our public school system. Local support, financial and otherwise, by your local government officials is crucial in maintaining priorities in your city. Local support is what gives school systems math teams and athletic additions and supplements for teachers and additional teacher units to keep class sizes down.

Costs to Fund Local Teacher Units Up, Effects on Class Size Uncertain - HSCIN web site, January 11, 2009