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The $128 million budget proposed for the Vestavia Hills school system for fiscal 2026 includes money for more than a dozen new employees, Chief Schools Financial Officer Courtney Brown shared this week.
The district has added six new grade-level teachers (two each at the West and East elementary schools and one each at the elementary schools in Liberty Park and Cahaba Heights). There also is an additional special education teacher at Vestavia Hills Elementary West, a half-time English teacher at Vestavia Hills High School, and a half-time English teacher, an interventionist and a guidance counselor at the Vestavia Hills Freshman Campus.
Another assistant principal was added at the high school, which allowed the district to move career and technical education coordinator responsibilities from the central office to the high school.
Duties among central office staff were reorganized, which allowed for the reduction of one administrative position, and the district added a board certified behavioral analyst and two students assistance counselors who will serve all schools, Brown said.
The Vestavia Hills school district now has a total of 942 employees, down from 944 last year after administrative eliminations and reorganization. The total includes 526 teachers, Brown said. Of those, 114 are funded with $10.2 million in revenues raised locally, she said.
The $88.4 million proposed to be budgeted for personnel would account for 69% of the total proposed expenditures for fiscal 2026, which begins Oct. 1, records show.
The proposed $128 million budget for 2026 expenditures is 3.2% higher than the fiscal 2025 budget. The main cause is the increases in personnel and higher costs for employee benefits and retirement contributions, she said.
The school board expects slightly less in revenues —$125.7 million, which is 4.7% higher than budgeted revenues for fiscal 2025.
While the district technically is planning to have more expenditures than revenues in fiscal 2026, that’s mainly because about $5 million in “advancement in technology” funds from the state was technically received in fiscal 2025 but will roll over to be used in 2026, Brown said.
District officials are proposing to budget to receive $107.4 million in the district’s general fund and spend $105.2 million from the general fund in 2026. At the end of fiscal 2026 — by Sept. 30, 2026 — Brown expects the district will have about 2.2 months’ worth of operational costs in its reserve fund. The district’s goal is to keep at least 2 months’ worth of operational costs in reserves, she said.
The proposed capital projects budget for 2026 includes about $1 million to improve the rigging system in the theater at Vestavia Hills High School, which is a safety issue, Superintendent Todd Freeman said.
The capital budget also includes about $4 million for heating/ventilation/air conditioning and roofing retrofits at Vestavia Hills Elementary Dolly Ridge, security and technology improvements and various minor improvements to the conditions of aging facilties.
Several elementary schools need bathroom renovations, and those are expected to start in fiscal 2026, but they are expensive and won’t all be done in 2026, Freeman said. The average age of Vestavia Hills school facilities is more than 50 years, officials said.
The school district has about $147 million worth of capital project needs for which there is no source of funding yet, according to the proposed long-term capital plan.
School district revenues have been increasing at above-average rates in recent years. The 10-year average growth of local property taxes for Vestavia Hills schools has been about 4%, but expenditures also have been increasing at about 4% per year, Brown said.
The growth in property tax revenue seems to have leveled off somewhat, increasing by only about 1% in fiscal 2025, she said. However, growth in The Bray at Liberty Park should begin to positively impact local revenues at some point in the near future, she said.
School officials are proposing to budget about $5 million for debt payments in fiscal 2026, with $3.46 million coming from the general fund and $1.6 million coming from the capital projects fund.
Go here to see the full 2026 budget summary for Vestavia Hills City Schools.
The school board had its first public hearing on the budget on Monday and will have a second public hearing at noon on Sept. 8 at the school district’s central office at 1204 Montgomery Highway.
