Alabama is home to 565 public high schools, each ranging from under 400 students to almost 3,000.
Public schools are governed by school systems that typically correspond to a county or municipality. These systems can receive funding from different sources, including federal, state and local governments, as well as endowments.
Some public school districts may receive funding from property taxes. These taxes are measured by millage rates, meaning the number of dollars taxed per $1,000 of property's assessed taxable value.
Counties and special school tax districts can impose property taxes if approved by voters in a referendum.
Every year, U.S. News releases a ranking of Alabama's high schools. We used this ranking to select the schools on this list. We did not include charter or magnet schools for the sake of avoiding confusion.
We used data from the U.S. Office of Elementary and Secondary Education to determine the per pupil expenditure of each high school. This number is calculated by dividing the total spending for a particular school by the number of students at that school.
Next, we used the Alabama Department of Revenue data to determine the total school millage rate for the respective school district.
By dividing the per pupil expenditure of each high school by the total school millage of its respective district, we calculated roughly the dollar spent on each student per mill.
Mountain Brook High School
- Location: Mountain Brook
- School District: Mountain Brook School System
- Graduation Rate: 97%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,043
- Per pupil expenditure: $16,839
- Total school millage: 34.1
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $593.81
Vestavia Hills High School
- Location: Vestavia Hills
- School District: Vestavia Hills City Schools
- Graduation Rate: 96%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,514
- Per pupil expenditure: $12,105
- Total school millage: 15.1
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $801.66
Homewood High School
- Location: Homewood
- School District: Homewood City School District
- Graduation Rate: 94%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,223
- Per pupil expenditure: $14,426
- Total school millage: 15.1
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $955.36
Bob Jones High School
- Location: Madison
- School District: Madison City Schools
- Graduation Rate: 97%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,880
- Per pupil expenditure: $9,356
- Total school millage: 5.5
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $1,701.09
James Clemens High School
- Location: Madison
- School District: Madison City Schools
- Graduation Rate: 95%
- Enrollment 9-12: 2,152
- Per pupil expenditure: $9,387
- Total school millage: 5.5
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $1,706.73
Spain Park High School
- Location: Hoover
- School District: Hoover City School District
- Graduation Rate: 97%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,634
- Per pupil expenditure: $13,243
- Total school millage: 22
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $601.95
Oak Mountain High School
- Location: Shelby County
- School District: Shelby County Schools
- Graduation Rate: 97%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,531
- Per pupil expenditure: $9,326
- Total school millage: 30
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $310.87
Fairhope High School
- City: Fairhope
- School District: Baldwin County Public Schools
- Graduation Rate: 91%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,403
- Per pupil expenditure: $8,721
- Total school millage: 15
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $581.40
Arab High School
- City: Arab
- School District: Arab City School District
- Graduation Rate: 99%
- Enrollment 9-12: 758
- Per pupil expenditure: $10,984
- Total school millage: 4
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $2,746
Hartselle High School
- City: Hartselle
- School District: Hartselle City School District
- Graduation Rate: 97%
- Enrollment 9-12: 1,066
- Per pupil expenditure: $10,312
- Total school millage: 17.1
- Dollar spent on each student per mill: $603.04
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email [email protected] or find him on Twitter and Facebook.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe to our newsletter and get our top stories every weekday morning.
