Tuscaloosa City Schools To Scale Back Summer Learning Program Due To Funding

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa City Schools (TCS) on Friday announced it will have to make substantial cuts to its Summer Learning Program due to a lack of funding.

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TCS Director of Strategic Initiatives Andrew Maxey said the 2024 iteration of Summer Learning cost $3.3 million, with 40% of that funded by federal COVID relief dollars that have since expired.

TCS said the funding shortfall represents about two-thirds of the 2024 Summer Learning budget.

Maxey then said that due to the loss of funding and the failure of a recent tax referendum in September, TCS will have the resources to serve only about 1,200 students in 2025—down from the 3,200 served in 2024.

The program will also be scaled back to 22 days, he said, two fewer than last summer.

It’s sad for me to see, in black and white, the changes that we are being forced to make because the vote didn’t go our way in September,” Board of Education member Lesley Powell said.

TCS says that at least nine schools in the district — Verner Elementary, Rock Quarry Elementary, Tuscaloosa Magnet Elementary, Woodland Forrest Elementary, Tuscaloosa Magnet Middle, Northridge Middle, and Northridge High — will no longer have summer learning programs due to a lack of funding.

The school system also said there are ongoing discussions about options with the principals of the aforementioned schools, meaning that there may be summer learning at those schools next year, but that those programs would have a paid model.

Maxey explained that these schools are not eligible for other federal or state funding, unlike Title IX schools with 21st Century grants.

“We are in conversations with those schools about what their summer learning options are,” Maxey said. “We are not changing the design of the program. We are scaling down. Our focus is now scaling down in ways that do not compromise the quality for the students who participate.”

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