Photo by Erin Nelson Starnes Media
Vestavia Hills High School
Vestavia Hills High School on Thursday, March 26, 2020. Photo by Erin Nelson
Vestavia Hills City Schools Superintendent Todd Freeman on Monday night answered questions from the public for the first time since unveiling the district’s “1Rebel 1Future” improvement plan earlier this year.
Read more on the plan here.
The plan would require residents in Vestavia Hills to approve a property tax increase from the current 92.6 mills. How much of a tax increase the system is requesting, along with the proposed plan's budget, will not be known until next month, Freeman said. Freeman’s proposal would add some new facilities, renovate others and also expand and add program offerings throughout Vestavia Hills City Schools.
The last time Vestavia Hills voters approved a property tax increase was 1990 by 10.5 mills.
In the auditorium at Vestavia Hills High School, Freeman discussed the plan, highlighting the need for the tax increase and some of the proposed improvements.
At the end of his presentation, Freeman took questions from the audience and from a website, vhcs.us/questions. Residents can still submit questions to that website.
The timeline of the project would be to have the tax election by the end of the 2022-23 school year, Freeman said, with expansion of programs like STEM and world languages coming first, along with improvements at elementary schools such as roof replacement and HVAC replacement. Freeman said the hope would be to have all projects complete within three to four years.
If the tax increase is not approved by voters, Freeman said the system would have to prioritize what is most important, including facility repairs — roofs and HVAC systems, for example — that must be fixed one way or another.
Freeman was also asked what percentage of Vestavia residents have students in the school system. Census data usually shows only 20-25% of residents have students in the school system, Freeman said.
One of the proposals would be to add tennis courts and parking to the area behind the former Vestavia Hills Elementary Central campus, turning the high school tennis courts into parking. Asked about the timing of that project, Freeman said those courts would not be removed until new ones are built at Central. The city of Vestavia Hills is also adding tennis courts at Wald Park.
Freeman noted that home values have risen more than 60% in areas zoned for both Pizitz Middle School and Liberty Park Middle School in the past eight years. While that means property taxes have risen, so has the school system’s budget, from roughly $69 million eight years ago to about $90.5 million this year, Freeman said. Still, that represents just 1% projections in revenues over expenditures, representing a “tightening of the belt,” Freeman said.
Students have told system leaders what they need and what they want by what they choose to do and how and where they produce results, Freeman said. Data shows more students participating in STEM classes, both during their time in Vestavia Hills City Schools and at the collegiate level, and more students participating in AP classes and athletics, he said.
Freeman said it was not his job to tell people how to vote, but wants them to be well-informed.
A video recording of the meeting can be found here.
