Hoover school board approves $271 million budget for 2026

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Schools

The Hoover Board of Education on Monday approved a $271 million budget for fiscal 2026, which is a 5% increase from the original 2025 budget approved a year ago.

The 2026 budget includes $25.6 million in capital projects, some of which were in the 2025 budget but are not expected to be completed in the 2025 fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30.

The money for capital projects includes:

  • $6.8 million for roofing projects at Berry and Bumpus middle schools, Brock’s Gap Intermediate and Deer Valley, Gwin, Riverchase and Shades Mountain elementary schools
  • $5.6 million for heating, ventilation and air conditioning replacements or improvements at Hoover High, Spain Park High, South Shades Crest Elementary and the central office
  • $2.6 million for renovating a building purchased in Riverchase for a new operations center
  • $2.4 million for restroom renovations at Greystone and Trace Crossings elementary schools
  • $1.5 million to renovate the old theater at Hoover High School
  • $1.4 million to replace the gym floor and bleachers at Gwin Elementary
  • $1.1 million for bus replacements
  • $850,000 for athletic field upgrades at Berry Middle School
  • $750,000 for reconfiguration of the lobby at Hoover High
  • $666,000 for elevator modernizations at Hoover High, Berry and Bumpus middle schools and Greystone and Trace Crossings elementary schools
  • $550,000 for computer network projects
  • $500,000 for locker room upgrades at Spain Park High
  • $449,000 for a concessions renovation at Simmons Middle
  • $350,000 for a football locker room shower upgrade at Bumpus Middle
  • $270,000 for a playground at Bluff Park Elementary

The $205 million general fund budget for 2026 is a 7% increase from the original 2025 budget. Eighty percent of the general fund expenditures (about $164 million) are for employee salaries and benefits, Chief School Finance Officer Melynda Buck said. The school district as of Aug. 28 had 2,045 employees, up 26 from last year, Buck said.

The new employees include 18 interventionists, 15 exceptional education aides, five exceptional education teachers, three English as a second language teachers, three career tech teachers, three middle school instructional coaches, two career coaches, two fine arts teachers, an exceptional education coordinator, a digital specialist, an athletic bookkeeper and an office aide, but some of those are part-time positions, Buck said.

SPECIAL EDUCATION COSTS CLIMBING

The Hoover school district plans to spend $37.5 million for special education services for children with physical, cognitive and learning disabilities in 2026, up from $33 million in the 2025 budget, Buck said. These costs continue to rise each year along with increasing numbers of students receiving special education services, she said.

As of Sept. 1 Hoover had about 1,800 special education students, up by 137 from last year, Buck said. That’s 14% of the overall stud

Forty-eight years ago, the federal government pledged to cover 40% of the cost of special education services, but the highest it has ever funded for Hoover is 18% in 2005, Buck said.

“Our challenge continues in finding ways to meet our legal obligations while giving students with disabilities access to a free and appropriate education in the least restrictive environment despite the fact the federal government does not provide full funding for it,” she said.

Hoover schools continue to experience a significant increase in the number of students with severe cognitive and behavioral needs, and some of these needs require placement outside Hoover schools, costing the district transportation and tuition yearround, Buck said.

Claire Jones-Moore, the district’s exceptional education executive director, this year was able to obtain $821,500 in grants to help the district absorb some of these extra costs, she said.

School board member Rex Blair noted this is a 55% increase in special education students since 2014, but the cost per student has gone up 159%, and the overall cost has increased 283%.

School board President Alan Paquette said the needs and expenses for special education are only going to continue to grow.

“At some point, somebody has to step forward and help the schools out with this,” he said. “Local, state, federal — somebody has to. This is unsustainable. …. Everybody keeps talking about it under the surface, but nobody seems to want to step up and find a solution.”

Of the $205 million expected in general fund expenditures in 2026, $163 million of that is for instructional services, while $23 million is for operations and maintenance, $8.1 million is for transportation, $7.3 million is for general administration, and $3.5 million is for other expenses.

The Hoover school system has 96 drivers driving 175 bus routes with 5,309 stops this year, Buck said. Seventeen of those drivers are also teachers, she said.

The school district plans to spend $11.8 million for its child nutrition program in fiscal 2026, with $4 million of that money coming from the federal government, $4 million from food sales and $3.5 million from other sources, records show.

About 4,500 students in Hoover City Schools qualify for free or reduced-price meals due to their family income levels, which represents about 34% of the student population, Buck said.

The school district also plans to spend $13.3 million paying off debt in 2026, including $9 million in principal and $4.3 million in interest, she said. At the end of the fiscal year, Hoover schools should have about $144 million left to pay in principal and interest over the next 14 years, she said. The annual debt payments will drop to $10.3 million per year in 2027, she said.

REVENUES

The Hoover school district plans to take in about $243 million in revenues in 2026, including $218 million for its general fund, $17.5 million for its special revenue fund, $4.5 million for capital projects and $2.8 million for its fiduciary trust funds, which is non-public money managed by the school system.

About $132 million of the total revenues are coming from local sources, while $101 million will come from the state and $9.7 million will come from the federal government, according to the budget. Local revenues should pay for 268 certified employees, including 214 teachers, 10.5 administrators, 10.5 counselors, 9 librarians and 23 other positions such as reading and math coaches, speech pathologists, interventionists and psychometrists, Buck said.

About $55 million of Hoover’s local revenues come from the citywide 24-mill property tax for schools, while $17.1 million comes from Jefferson County property taxes, $8.1 million from Shelby County property taxes, $5 million from the city of Hoover general fund, $1.8 million from the Jefferson County Commission, $1.9 million from interest income, $1.7 million from Shelby County sales taxes, $1.3 million from Medicaid reimbursements for education services and $454,000 from renting school facilities to outside groups. The city of Hoover also covers the salaries and benefits for the school resource officers, which amounts to about $3.3 million, but that contribution doesn’t show up on the school system’s books.

The Hoover school district plans to start fiscal 2026 with $159 million in its overall fund balance and end the fiscal year on Sept. 30, 2026, with $132 million. That’s enough to cover six months’ worth of operating expenses, Buck said.

Superintendent Kevin Maddox, who has been with the district just two years, said he is impressed that the Hoover school system has been able to maintain such a healthy reserve fund over the years.

“Not having to borrow money since 2007 is absolutely phenomenal,” he said.

The school district has paid for all capital projects since then with money from its reserves, including a 32-classroom addition at Hoover High in 2011, a band room addition at Hoover High and artificial turf and track resurfacing at Hoover and Spain Park high schools in 2017, the purchase and renovation of the former Riverchase Middle School to create the Riverchase Career Connection Center in 2019, a classroom addition at Berry Middle School and renovation at Bluff Park Elementary in 2021, the Hoover City Schools Performing Arts Center at Hoover High, theater renovation at Spain Park High and athletic field upgrades at Hoover and Spain Park High and Bumpus Middle in 2024 and various HVAC and roofing projects in various years, Buck said.

Maddox noted that while the current projection is to have $132 million in the reserve fund at the end of fiscal 2026, that amount will drop quickly if Hoover needs to build another elementary school, which likely would cost $50 million. Buck said the system’s reserves would drop to about three months’ worth of operating expenses in such a case.

See a slideshow with highlights of Hoover City Schools' fiscal 2026 budget details.