The Birmingham Times
The Jefferson County Commission presented its annual $18 million to local Boards of Education on Wednesday.
The money couldn’t come at a better time, said County Commissioner Sheila Tyson.
“It’s always important to give money to the schools but with the pandemic and the [Omicron variant] out the time is right now more than ever now,” Tyson said, “what if there is another school closing. The kids are already a year behind, some of them are two years . . . So now with this money, it’s a way for us to balance the scales and actually use this to help with the increase their learning ability.”
Commission President Jimmie Stephens said the money allows the elected officials to “celebrate giving back to our children . . . to make sure that our schools remain the staple and forefront of education in the state of Alabama.”
Representatives from 12 local school systems were presented with a check based on the daily number of student attendance in each school district. The funding comes from citizen tax dollars that will be going back to the community to improve education.
The amounts presented were:
- Jefferson County Board of Education — $6,620,015
- City of Birmingham — $3,991,775
- City of Hoover — $1,910,108
- City of Vestavia Hills — $1,346,135
- City of Mountain Brook — $ 838,975
- City of Trussville — $832,340
- City of Homewood — $796,706
- City of Bessemer — $619,126
- City of Leeds — $329,408
- City of Fairfield — $294,157
- City of Tarrant — $226,942
- City of Midfield — $194,308
