HCS expenditures expected to exceed revenues in 2021
The Homewood City School system expenditures are expected to exceed system revenues by $351,733 in the 2021 fiscal year.
The Homewood City Schools Board of Education met Sept. 15 to approve the FY 2021 budget. The general fund budget is $53.5 million, which is a few million dollars smaller than the FY 2020 general fund budget of 58 million.
Most of the general fund budget goes to instruction. This includes employee salaries and benefits, teaching materials, supplies, technology, textbooks and more. About $40.1 million is going to this part of the budget, which accounts for 75% of the budget.
Paying for security, operations and maintenance makes up the second-largest piece of the pie at about $5.9 million.
The Capital Projects fund makes up about $1.8 million of the budget, or 3.4%. The capital improvement budgeted expenses for 2020 include $2.196 million in system-wide building and land improvements.
The remaining 10.6% of the budget will go to the preschool program; transportation; local support transferred out to each student, such as the child nutrition program; and administrative costs.
The system’s total budget is made up of 32.1% state funding, 5.19% federal funding and 62.71% local and other funding.
The state funds each of the 269.78 earned teacher units with classroom instructional supplies, professional development, technology and library enhancement funds. The school system is funding the remaining 92.57 local and federal teacher units through local funds. The system sends an additional $445,588 to the local school to help support common purchases, technology, band, athletics, office and nursing supplies and janitorial and maintenance costs.
The school board also made projections about local revenue in the 2021 fiscal year. The system estimates a 1.5% increase in city and county property tax revenue. The system also estimates a 1.15% decrease in city sales tax revenue.
School enrollment numbers
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the HCS school enrollment numbers look similar to those of the 2019-2020 school year. Shades Cahaba Elementary School is the only HCS school that saw a drop in enrollment this year.
Edgewood Elementary School has 785 enrolled students, compared to 773 last year
Hall-Kent Elementary School has 690 enrolled students, compared to 634 last year
Shades Cahaba Elementary School has 480 enrolled students, compared to 506 last year.
Homewood Middle School has 1,047 enrolled students, compared to 1,069 last year
Homewood High School has 1,223 enrolled students, compared to 1,220 last year
The next Board of Education meeting will be held Oct. 20. These meetings are in-person at the Board of Education office and are no longer being streamed online.