Tuscaloosa County School System discussing new school budget

By WVUA 23 News Student Reporter Avery Boyce

Tuscaloosa County School System previewed their new budget for the 2024 fiscal year and the biggest change is for employees. The $245 million budget will allocate more than half its budget to faculty and staff.

“Over 81% of our general fund budget is in salaries and benefits for employees,” said TCSS Chief School Financial Officer Danny Higdon.

Transportation, career tech and school nurses will also receive an increase in funding.

Compared with the 2023 fiscal year, the system received $10 million more in funding earmarked for school employee salaries and benefits. Alabama provided the most funding for the school budget, a total of $101,806,607.

Higdon said many of these hard decisions are reflected in state guidance.

“Majority of our funds comes from the state and they dictate the funds we receive,” Higdon said.

In all, 59% of the system’s budget is funded by the state, 14% is funded through federal government and 27% is funded locally via property taxes and other measures.