Property tax considered to fund improvements at Tuscaloosa City Schools

Leaders with Tuscaloosa City Schools are considering a plan to seek a 22% property tax increase that would fund $17.25 million in annual improvements.

"In order for us to have a good school system, we need to step up to the plate, and do the things we need to do to get there," said Marvin Lucas, who represents District 6 on the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education.

More: Educators detail strategies to improve Tuscaloosa public schools

The school board has asked Superintendent Mike Daria to present a resolution for funding the system’s priorities during the board’s Oct. 17 meeting. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. at the Tuscaloosa Career and Technology Academy, 2800 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

A report commissioned by the school board recommended a citywide referendum in 2024 seeking an 11.5-mill increase in the property tax rate. If approved, the increase would not take effect until the 2025 fiscal year.

The report comes after a series of community input sessions, which the system said were designed to give Tuscaloosa residents an opportunity to discuss priorities for the future of the school system.

The sessions were held at the system’s three high schools: Central, Northridge and Paul W. Bryant.

According to the input from more than 2,000 community members, including Tuscaloosa City School parents, families, staff and other Tuscaloosa residents, the school system should focus on three key areas in planning its financial future:

• Educator excellence, which includes keeping teacher pay above state average, increasing compensation for staff and improving benefits and more.

• Premier student programs and services, which includes enhancing the system’s special education offerings, boosting fine arts at every school and continuing such programs as summer learning, pre-kindergarten and more.

• School safety and security, which includes ensuring a consistent presence of school resources officers at every campus, providing student ID badges and improving the system’s overall safety plan.

The priorities were each split into two categories: What the Tuscaloosa community says TCS should continue as a financial priority, and which areas the public said TCS should dedicate more financial resources to expand or improve.

TregoEd, an independent company, compiled the report based on the public’s input and a community task force presented the report’s findings at an Oct. 3 school board meeting.

Jay Duke, the chief financial officer for Tuscaloosa City Schools, analyzed the priorities identified by the report and what the annual cost would be to the system.

Duke said that to continue the current programs and expand on the priorities identified, $17.25 million annually would be needed, which would require a property tax rate increase of 11.5 mills.

The city of Tuscaloosa's current property tax rate is 51.5 mills, of which the Tuscaloosa City Schools receives 15.5 mills.

The only way that school systems in Alabama can increase revenue is to propose an increase in property taxes for education, Duke said. To do that, a referendum would need to be held so that the public could vote on whether to increase financial support for the Tuscaloosa City Schools.

The increase would mean that owners of a single-family home worth $100,000 would pay an extra $115 a year in property taxes.

Part of the proposed funding increase would maintain the current level of programs and services, while part would expand services as identified by the community’s priorities, the system’s leaders said.

The last time the city's property tax rate was increased to support public schools was in 1986.

Earlier this year, voters overwhelmingly rejected an 8-mill property tax increase sought by the Tuscaloosa County School System. Tuscaloosa has separate systems for city and county schools.

Lesley Powell, who represents District 3 on the school board, said the Tuscaloosa City Schools’ system needs to plan with an eye toward the future.

"Three years from now, TCS won't look the same as it does today," Powell said.

"We can either choose as a community to fund a better, stronger education for our kids with exceptional educators, top-notch student services and programs and, of course, tighter safety and security. Or we can choose to cut back on spending. And I think everybody knows what I know, and that's strong schools build strong communities,” said Powell, who represents Northridge Middle, Northridge High, Rock Quarry Elementary and Verner Elementary.

“It seems to me like there is only one choice,” she said.

Lucas, who represents Eastwood Middle, Bryant High and Woodland Forrest Elementary, said the time to act is now.

"We can do things to just get by. But if we want to be the premier school system that we want to be, that we can be, we must come together and make sure that we look at this millage situation, and make a change, a change for the better to help us to be the great system we talk about each and every day,” Lucas said.

“Talking about it is not going to make it. We must get up and produce," he said.

Reach Jasmine Hollie at JHollie@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Plan would increase property taxes to fund Tuscaloosa City Schools