Photo by Jon Anderson
The Shelby County Board of Education meets at the school board's central office in Columbiana, Alabama, on Thursday, Aug. 27, 2026.
With enrollment declining, the proposed budget for the Shelby County school system is going down slightly for fiscal 2027, the system’s chief financial officer told the school board Thursday.
School officials are proposing to spend $376 million in fiscal 2027, which starts Oct. 1, compared to $383 million in 2026.
The school system’s enrollment this year has dropped by 279 students to 20,051 spread over 31 schools, Chief School Financial Officer John Gwin shared with the school board. The district has lost 851 students in total over the past three years, records show.
To compensate for declining enrollment, the district has cut about 20 employee positions this year, including about 10 teachers and 10 support staff, Gwin said.
But even though positions are being cut, employee costs are rising, mostly due to the increased cost of health insurance, but also because of the 2% salary increase mandated by the state Legislature, Gwin said.
A 16% increase in health insurance costs will cost Shelby County Schools almost $5.1 million more in fiscal 2027, and with a 2% increase in salaries, salary expenses are rising by $1.9 million — even with 20 positions cut, Gwin said.
The total amount going to salaries and benefits out of the general fund is $232 million, which accounts for about 76% of the general fund budget.
The Shelby County school district employs 3,051 people this year, records show. That includes 1,469 teachers, with 1,253 of those paid with state tax money, 165 paid with local tax dollars and 51 paid with federal money, records show.
There are 1,356 non-certified support personnel, 124 administrators, 51 counselors, 33 librarians and 18 certified support personnel.
While the school board plans to spend $376 million in fiscal 2027, revenues for this fiscal year are expected to be only $333 million. The school system will be able to carry over $30 million in state money from fiscal 2026 to help offset some of the new year’s expenses, Gwin said. That’s mostly supplemental state grants for capital projects, technology and equipment, he said.
The school district will have to use $6.7 million from general fund local reserves as well, Gwin said.
“We are using our general fund reserve to keep our operations stable and consistent while we slowly shrink our operations to meet the needs of a smaller student enrollment,” Gwin said. “It would not be fair to our students to drastically cut services and programs across the board when we currently have four months of operating reserve in our general fund.”
The state requires only one month of operational expenses to be kept in reserve.
“Our savings has bought us time to thoroughly continue to review our programs and consider what will continually be best for our students’ success,” Gwin said.
Of the $376 million in expenses for 2027, $173 million would go toward instructional services, while there also would be $55 million for instructional support services, $45 million for auxiliary services, $36 million for capital projects, $33 million for operations and maintenance, $6 million for general administrative services and $8 million for other expenditures.
Chart courtesy of Shelby County Schools
This chart show how the Shelby County Board of Education plans to spend money from its $307 million general fund in fiscal 2027.
Capital projects planned in 2027 for schools in the U.S. 280 corridor include: an auxiliary gym and concession area at Chelsea High School for $8.5 million; soccer, baseball and softball turf improvements at Oak Mountain High School for $2.8 million; and heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades at Inverness Elementary for $1.5 million, according to the five-year capital plan approved Thursday night.
The school district also has nine new 72-passenger buses and five lift buses that should come into operation next month and seven additional 72-passenger buses that should be received by the end of this calendar year, said Jay McGaughy, the district’s transportation coordinator. There also are five more 72-passenger buses and five lift buses that have been ordered that do not yet have an estimated delivery date, McGaughy said.
The 72-passenger buses now cost about $150,000 each, but that price soon will go up another $20,000 due to new federal emission standards, he said.
The Shelby County Board of Education plans to have a second public hearing concerning its 2027 budget on Sept. 10 at the Shelby County Instructional Services Center in Alabaster. The board likely will vote on the budget at that time.
