Memphis scene of showdown over school funding
The Memphis Daily News reports that after the Memphis City Council voted 10-3 to cut city funding to the city school system by about $70 million, Memphis City Schools filed a lawsuit against the City of Memphis. In response to the impasse, Tennessee Department of Education (TDE) officials have threatened to withhold $423 million from the city school system. Memphis Mayor Willie Herenton expressed fear that the state board of education might make an example of the city by holding back state funding. City Councilman Myron Lowery, on the other hand, believes the state is bluffing and that “Gov. (Phil) Bredesen is [not] going to allow the largest school system in the state to collapse.” At least one indicator of what a response from the state might look like can be found about three hours east of Memphis, where the Nashville school board is trying to come to grips with academically low-performing schools and an increasing level of state involvement and direction. State officials there have jumped directly into the situation, becoming involved in decisions about staffing and school administration. Gov. Bredesen has said that he’s “dead serious” about making some changes in the Nashville school system. Unlike the funding issue in Memphis, the trigger for state involvement in Nashville has been academic performance, but the situation clearly shows the extent to which state officials will assert their influence in making tough decisions for local school systems. Besides the lawsuit filed by Memphis City Schools, the local chapter of the Rainbow Push Coalition civil rights group filed a lawsuit earlier this month in response to the council’s funding cut. The civil rights group basically makes the same claims the city school system does in its own suit, citing a legal obligation by the city of Memphis to maintain the same level of funding to the school system from year to year. Rainbow Push attorney Jay Bailey issued a subpoena for all e-mails, letters and correspondence of City Council members from March 1 through June 18, citing a possible violation of the state’s open meetings law in the way the council discussed and voted on the school funding cut.
Source: Memphis Daily News, 6/26/08, By Andy Meek
[Editor’s Note: The Memphis Commercial Appeal reports below that several local charter schools have filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. According to State Rep. G.A. Hardaway, a member of the governing board for Memphis Academy of Health Sciences, charters don't have a healthy reserves fund to help keep things afloat. “It's a lot more life-and-death,” he said. “We are trying to keep the urgency in front of the chancellor.” TDE contends the city council's action was illegal. City officials counter that the money budgeted to city schools is simply a gratuity and that responsibility for funding lies with the Shelby County Commission.]
Memphis Commercial Appeal, 6/27/08, By Dakarai I. Aarons