Crazyland: The Coming Tax Increases in Shelby County and the Waste of Civic Energy over Consolidation

Shelby County Politicos Burning  Tax Dollars


So many politicos in this town have wasted civic energy on consolidation efforts that were never going to improve our community, both metro and school consolidations. Now they are asking us to pay for their craziness.

Time is Money and they have burned through it for several years now.
Please stop the madness.

Why The Rush to Surrender MCS Charter ?

The message is UNTRUE.

Memphis City Schools (MCS) will not lose 50% of their funding if Shelby County School (SCS) District becomes a special school district.

So how much will MCS lose due to a Shelby County Special School District?

The answer is ZERO.

After all the screaming and the “fake faints”, MCS doesn’t lose a dime. The architects of all this drama will continue to spin another story, but here’s the truth and the numbers.

According to their (MCS) numbers, the sources of funds are as follow (proposed MCS 2010-2011 Budget) (General Fund):

State of Tennessee: 50.5% or $450.3 million
Shelby County: 28.6% or $254.9 million
Local Sales Tax : 9.99% or $ 89.1 million
City of Memphis : 8.78% or $ 78.3 million
Federal Funds : 0.89% or $ 7.9 million
Local Funds : 0.22% or $ 2.0 million

First off, + 50% of MCS budget is derived from the state of Tennessee. Alike, the local sales tax, city of Memphis, Federal Funds, Local Funds would continue.

That leaves the contribution from Shelby County (commission) which makes up 28.6% of the budget. This is where the smoke and mirrors come in. These dollars don’t disappear from the MCS budget, if special school status is given to SCS.

The bottom line is: The Shelby County Commission cannot exit the ADA and MOE requirements. The combined contributions of the Memphis City Council and Shelby Commission cannot go away by law.

In the future, the county commission dominated by city interests will remain in place. The Shelby County Commission would still be obligated to fund at least the current $254.9 million. Unless of course, Memphis City School’s ability to count students is questioned again by city council members.

So why the “fake faints” over all this?

Tom Guleff
Memphis, TN
901-413-7804


Here's the link to the proposed MCS 2010-2011 Budget (General Fund) of $891 million:http://www.mcsk12.net/forms/Budget/2011%20Proposed%20Budget%20Revised%20-%20Web2.pdf

Link to lawsuit between MCS and Memphis City Council http://www.abc24.com/media/lib/10/6/0/7/6073965a-93af-48ae-b567-f0b1adf37caf/State_ex_rel_BoardofEducationofMemphisCitySchools_v_Memphis_OPN.pdf

Take The Offer !!!!

According to the CA, School district offers city new options to settle funding dispute

I would take the offer!!! A court decision in the council's favor is a gamble. Pro-rate the judgment over a period of time and get out of the funding of MCS forever.

The county should then conduct an open and thorough audit of MCS, and start the process to turn around a broken system. In roughly two years, MCS will have a budget close to $1 billion and a student enrollment of 99,000. If you want to turn around the region, he’s the place to start.