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Birmingham City Schools, Alabama

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Birmingham City Schools
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Birmingham, Alabama
District details
Superintendent: Mark Sullivan
# of school board members: 9
Website: Link

Birmingham City Schools is a school district in Alabama.

Click on the links below to learn more about the school district’s…

Superintendent

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 		This information is updated as we become aware of changes. Please contact us with any updates.

Mark Sullivan is the superintendent of Birmingham City Schools. Sullivan was appointed superintendent in August 2020 after serving as interim superintendent since April of that year. Sullivan's previous career experience includes working as chief of staff for former superintendent Lisa Herring, as a principal, and as a teacher in the district.[1]

Past superintendents

  • Lisa Herring was the superintendent from her appointment in May 2017 until 2020.[2]
  • Dr. Larry Contri was the interim superintendent of Birmingham City Schools from 2016 to 2017.[3]
  • Kelley Castlin-Gacutan was the superintendent of Birmingham City Schools from 2015 to 2016. Castlin-Gacutan's previous career experience included working as the deputy superintendent of operations at Bibb County Schools in Georgia.[4]
  • Craig Witherspoon was the superintendent of Birmingham City Schools from 2010 to 2014.[5]

School board

The Birmingham City Schools school board consists of nine members elected to four-year terms. Board members are elected by district.[6]


Elections

See also: Birmingham City Schools, Alabama, elections

Every four years, all nine seats on the board are up for election. Elections take place during odd-numbered years.

Nine seats on the boardwere up for general election on August 26, 2025. A general runoff election is scheduled for October 7, 2025. The filing deadline for this election was July 11, 2025.

Ballotpedia covered school board elections in 367 school districts in 29 states in 2024. Those school districts had a total student enrollment of 12,203,404 students. Click here to read an analysis of those elections.


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Public participation in board meetings

The Birmingham City Schools school board maintains the following policy on public testimony during board meetings:[7]

“

Public Speaking at Board Meetings – Board meetings are open to the public.

Individuals who wish to comment on a scheduled agenda item may be permitted to do so at scheduled work sessions if they have registered their desire to do so in the office of the Superintendent prior to the meeting.

Individuals or delegations desiring to appear before the Board to address an item not scheduled on the agenda may do so after discussion with the Superintendent and once they have registered their desire to do so in the office of the Superintendent no less than three (3) business days prior to the meeting.

Interested and affected persons who desire to present an item of new business to the Board in official meetings shall first be afforded an opportunity to be heard by the Superintendent, or his authorized representative. After a preliminary conference, the Superintendent will honor requests for appearance before the Board provided that the notice of problems, issues, suggestions and other matters of concern to the delegation shall be presented in writing to the Superintendent at least five working days prior to the scheduled Board meeting to allow for duplication of materials and delivery to Board members. Guidelines for the appearance of delegations are:

(a) a delegation shall be restricted to a single spokesperson, in any event no more than three speakers on any given topic;

(b) spokespersons must limit their remarks to topics outlined in their written requests for appearance before the Board;

(c) delegations wanting questions answered should submit such questions in writing prior to the meeting;

(d) a two minute time limit on speakers may be imposed at the discretion of the Board;

(e) a copy of the Board’s guidelines shall be furnished to delegation representatives at the time that a Board appearance is requested;

(f) vulgarity, profanity and disrespectful conduct or language are not allowed and will be grounds for removal from the Board meeting; and

(g) persons addressing the Board shall not be permitted to discuss individual Board members or employees by name while addressing the Board.[8]

”

School board meetings

The following articles were produced by Citizen Portal using artificial intelligence to analyze public meetings. Citizen Portal publishes articles based on the availability of meeting broadcasts, so the number of articles provided may vary by district. Although these articles are not produced or edited by Ballotpedia, they are included here as a supplemental resource for readers.

School board meeting articles (click to collapse)


District map

School district map

Budget

The following statistics were published by the National Center for Education Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Education.[9]

Revenue, 2020-2021
SOURCE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Federal: $53,353,000 $2,470 17%
Local: $113,193,000 $5,241 36%
State: $145,548,000 $6,739 47%
Total: $312,094,000 $14,451
Expenditures, 2020-2021
TYPE AMOUNT AMOUNT PER STUDENT PERCENT
Total Expenditures: $282,232,000 $13,068
Total Current Expenditures: $265,036,000 $12,271
Instructional Expenditures: $138,304,000 $6,403 49%
Student and Staff Support: $42,328,000 $1,959 15%
Administration: $31,553,000 $1,460 11%
Operations, Food Service, Other: $52,851,000 $2,447 19%
Total Capital Outlay: $6,299,000 $291
Construction: $5,150,000 $238
Total Non El-Sec Education & Other: $8,198,000 $379
Interest on Debt: $304,000 $14


Teacher salaries

The following salary information was pulled from the district's teacher salary schedule. A salary schedule is a list of expected compensations based on variables such as position, years employed, and education level. It may not reflect actual teacher salaries in the district.

Year Minimum Maximum
2024-2025[10] $48,860 $93,875
2023-2024[11] $45,664 $92,035
2022-2023[12] $44,769 $90,230
2021[13] $41,592 $71,257
2020[14] $41,592 $71,257

Academic performance

Each year, state and local education agencies use tests and other standards to assess student proficiency. Although the data below was published by the U.S. Department of Education, proficiency measurements are established by the states. As a result, proficiency levels are not comparable between different states and year-over-year proficiency levels within a district may not be comparable because states may change their proficiency measurements.[15]

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 4 <50 4 4 <=20 <=10 6-9
2018-2019 21 21-39 21 24 <=20 30-34 40-44
2017-2018 21 21-39 20 25 <=20 30-34 40-44
2016-2017 21 21-39 20 21 <50 30-34 35-39
2015-2016 19 21-39 19 19 <=20 40-59 25-29
2014-2015 18 40-59 18 21 <50 20-24 30-34
2013-2014 21 60-79 21 22 PS 22 45-49
2012-2013 67 >=80 67 72 PS 55-59 65-69
2011-2012 71 >=80 71 77 PS 70-79 75-79
2010-2011 71 >=80 71 78 PS 45-49 70-74

The following table shows the percentage of district students who scored at or above the proficiency level each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2020-2021 20 <50 19 18 21-39 40-49 30-34
2018-2019 24 21-39 24 21 <=20 35-39 40-44
2017-2018 24 21-39 24 21 <=20 45-49 40-44
2016-2017 20 <=20 20 14 <50 25-29 35-39
2015-2016 19 21-39 19 13 <=20 21-39 25-29
2014-2015 20 40-59 20 18 <50 15-19 30-34
2013-2014 23 40-59 24 16 PS 19 45-49
2012-2013 74 60-79 74 71 PS 70-74 75-79
2011-2012 75 >=80 75 74 PS 80-89 80-84
2010-2011 75 >=80 75 77 PS 55-59 75-79

The following table shows the graduation rate of district students each school year:

School year All (%) Asian/Pacific Islander (%) Black (%) Hispanic (%) Native American (%) Two or More Races (%) White (%)
2019-2020 82 PS 83 60-64 >=50 >=50 <50
2018-2019 82 PS 83 75-79 >=50 >=50 >=50
2017-2018 79 PS 80 50-59 >=50 >=50 40-59
2016-2017 77 PS 78 70-74 >=50 <50
2015-2016 77 PS 78 50-59 >=50 >=50 40-59
2014-2015 80 PS 81 70-79 PS >=50 40-59
2013-2014 79 PS 81 60-69 PS >=50 40-59
2012-2013 65 PS 66 40-49 PS 21-39
2011-2012 56 PS 57 20-29 PS PS <=20
2010-2011 55 PS 55 40-49 21-39


Students

Year Enrollment Year-to-year change (%)
2022-2023 21,130 -0.9
2021-2022 21,328 -1.3
2020-2021 21,597 -5.2
2019-2020 22,726 -1.4
2018-2019 23,041 -3.2
2017-2018 23,777 -1.2
2016-2017 24,070 -2.6
2015-2016 24,693 1.0
2014-2015 24,449 -1.7
2013-2014 24,858 -1.0
2012-2013 25,104 0.1
2011-2012 25,091 -3.3
2010-2011 25,914 -3.1
2009-2010 26,721 -2.7
2008-2009 27,440 -3.0
2007-2008 28,266 -4.1
2006-2007 29,435 -5.2
2005-2006 30,959 -2.9
2004-2005 31,843 -7.1
2003-2004 34,099 -6.0
2002-2003 36,133 -2.8
2001-2002 37,154 -1.9
2000-2001 37,843 -0.7
1999-2000 38,120 0.0
Racial Demographics, 2022-2023
RACE Birmingham City Schools (%) Alabama K-12 STUDENTS (%)
American Indian/Alaska Native 0.1 0.8
Asian or Asian/Pacific Islander 0.1 1.5
Black 86.4 31.8
Hispanic 11.0 10.5
Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 0.1 0.1
Two or More Races 1.2 3.5
White 1.1 51.9

Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.


Staff

As of the 2022-2023 school year, Birmingham City Schools had 1,115.75 full-time classroom teachers. The student-teacher ratio was 18.94.

Teachers, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF TEACHERS
Prekindergarten: 59.55
Kindergarten: 175.70
Elementary: 419.00
Secondary: 461.50
Total: 1,115.75

Birmingham City Schools employed 32.17 district administrators and 137.00 school administrators as of the 2022-2023 school year.

Administrators, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF ADMINISTRATORS
District Administrators: 32.17
District Administrative Support: 37.83
School Administrators: 137.00
School Administrative Support: 98.00
Other staff, 2022-2023 school year
TYPE NUMBER OF OTHER STAFF
Instructional Aides: 108.85
Instruc. Coordinators & Supervisors: 0.00
Total Guidance Counselors: 52.00
Elementary Guidance Counselors: 37.00
Secondary Guidance Counselors: 15.00
Librarians/Media Specialists: 43.00
Library/Media Support: 0.00
Student Support Services: 4.00
Other Support Services: 281.00


Schools

Birmingham City Schools operates 49 schools. They are listed below in alphabetical order.
List of schools
SCHOOL NAMENUMBER OF STUDENTSGRADES
Adolescent Day Treatment0KG-12
Avondale Elementary School328PK-5
Barrett Elementary School405PK-5
Bcs Virtual Academy Of Learning2873-12
Bush Hills Steam Academy4336-8
Central Park Elementary School447PK-5
Charles A Brown Elementary School307PK-5
Christian School633PK-8
City Elementary07-8
Dupuy Alternative School09-12
Engle Day Treatment01-7
Epic Alternative Elementary School291PK-5
George Washington Carver High School5319-12
Glen Iris Elementary School731PK-5
Green Acres Middle School3376-8
Hayes K8658PK-8
Hemphill Elementary School336PK-5
Homebound Elementary School0PK-6
Homebound High School07-12
Hudson Keight School633PK-8
Huffman Academy735PK-5
Huffman High Schoolmagnet1,1478-12
Huffman Middle School3996-8
Inglenook School333PK-8
Jacksonolin High School7848-12
Jones Valley Middle School5026-8
Martha Gaskins K5509PK-5
Minor Elementary School454PK-5
Norwood Elementary School249PK-5
Oliver K5 School389PK-5
Ossie Ware Mitchell Middle School2786-8
Oxmoor K5478PK-5
Parker High School8269-12
Phillips Academy654PK-8
Princeton School203PK-5
Ramsay High School6609-12
Richard Arrington Elementary374PK-5
Robinson Elementary School344PK-5
Smith Middle School4266-8
South Hampton K8513PK-8
Sun Valley Elementary School611PK-5
Tuggle Elementary School470PK-5
Washington K8567PK-8
Wenonah High School6569-12
We Putnam Middle Schoolmagnet2106-8
West End Academy503PK-5
Wilkerson Middle School3906-8
Woodlawn High Schoolmagnet7389-12
Wylam Elementary School371PK-5

Noteworthy events

2013: Voting Rights Act lawsuit

On February 14, 2013, five plaintiffs, including board members Virginia Volker and Emanuel Ford, filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction against the Alabama Department of Education, former state Superintendent Ed Richardson, and then-current state Superintendent Tommy Bice for violating section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. The lawsuit said that the predominantly white State Board of Education had overruled decisions made by the predominantly Black Birmingham City Board of Education. Under the Voting Rights Act, changes to Alabama elections had to be pre-approved by a federal judge.[16] The case was dismissed in December 2013.[17]

2013: Rehire lawsuit filed

On January 22, 2013, a group of 101 former school district employees filed suit against the Alabama State Board of Education, Birmingham City Board of Education, Superintendent Craig Witherspoon, state Superintendent Tommy Bice, and former state Superintendent Ed Richardson over allegations that the job cuts that resulted in their termination were illegal. Bice, Richardson, and the State Board of Education were included in the lawsuit because the Birmingham City Board of Education vote to approve the cuts finished in a 4-4-1 tie, which was overruled by the state Board of Education.[18] The lawsuit also alleged that employees were only granted 15 days severance rather than the 75 days of severance pay they were entitled to under the Students First Act.[19]

2012: Superintendent Witherspoon fired

In July 2012, the board voted 5-3 in favor of firing Superintendent Craig Witherspoon. The vote was overruled by Alabama Department of Education Superintendent Tommy Bice. Witherspoon's lawyer, U. W. Clemon, said that the board's action was in violation of Witherspoon's contract.[20]

2012: Board president arrested

On October 16, 2012, two separate warrants were issued for Birmingham City Board of Education President Edward Maddox for charges of using his political office for personal gain. It was alleged that Maddox used his position as President of the Woodlawn Neighborhood Association and as President of the Birmingham City Board of Education to vote in favor of measures that would grant funding to his Woodlawn Missions charity. He also allegedly voted to raise his daughter's salary while serving in these positions. Maddox agreed to plead guilty to both charges and resigned immediately from the Birmingham City Board of Education.[21]

2012: State takeover

On June 26, 2012, the Alabama Department of Education assumed control of operations of Birmingham City Schools after the Birmingham City Board of Education failed to pass a measure that would have cut 100-200 employee jobs over two years and brought the system into compliance with state law. The state board initiated the takeover after Birmingham City Schools was found to be operating without the required one month of emergency funds, which amounted to approximately $20 million. Former state Superintendent Ed Richardson was appointed to oversee day-to-day operations of the school district.[22][23]

Contact information

Birmingham City Schools seal.png
Birmingham City Schools
2015 Park Place North
Birmingham, AL 35203
Phone: 205-231-4600


About school boards

Education legislation in Alabama

Bills are monitored by BillTrack50 and sorted by action history.

See also

Alabama School Board Elections News and Analysis
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External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 6 WBRC, "Birmingham City Schools names new superintendent," August 31, 2020
  2. ↑ CBS42, "Lisa Herring leaving Birmingham City Schools to head Atlanta school system," April 21, 2020
  3. ↑ AL.com, "Birmingham interim superintendent, who has refused to retire, says may be interested in top job," September 29, 2016
  4. ↑ AL.com, "Hueytown native Kelley Castlin-Gacutan selected as new superintendent for Birmingham City Schools," May 13, 2015
  5. ↑ AL.com, "Birmingham school board decision to fire Superintendent Craig Witherspoon overturned (updated)" July 17, 2012
  6. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Board Policy Manual Policy 2.1: Board Composition and Organization," accessed May 20, 2021
  7. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Board Policy Manual Policy 2.5: Board Meetings," accessed May 20, 2021
  8. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  9. ↑ National Center for Education Statistics, "Elementary/Secondary Information System," accessed June 17, 2024
  10. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Certified Salary Schedule FY2025," accessed April 16, 2025
  11. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Certified Salary Schedule FY2024," accessed February 2, 2024
  12. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Certified Salary Schedule FY2023," accessed February 2, 2024
  13. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Certified Salary Schedule FY2021," accessed May 20, 2021
  14. ↑ Birmingham City Schools, "Certified Salary Schedule FY2020," accessed May 20, 2021
  15. ↑ U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC: EDFacts, "State Assessments in Reading/Language Arts and Mathematics- School Year 2018-19 EDFacts Data Documentation," accessed February 25, 2021
  16. ↑ 6 WBRC, "School lobby, Birmingham BOE members file lawsuit against state board," February 14, 2013
  17. ↑ AL.com, "Alabama State Board of Education asks judge to dismiss lawsuit challenging Birmingham schools takeover," December 5, 2013
  18. ↑ AL.com, "101 former or current Birmingham school employees sue to get jobs back" January 22, 2013
  19. ↑ AL.com, "Birmingham and state school boards seek dismissal of lawsuit by 122 seeking their old jobs back" May 15, 2013
  20. ↑ AL.com, "Birmingham school board decision to fire Superintendent Craig Witherspoon overturned (updated)" July 17, 2012
  21. ↑ AL.com, "Updated: Birmingham school board President Edward Maddox accused of using public office for personal gain" October 16, 2012
  22. ↑ 6 WBRC, "State announces takeover of Birmingham School System," June 27, 2012
  23. ↑ AL.com, "Alabama Department of Education officially takes over Birmingham city schools," June 27, 2012
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