No member of the current Shelby County Commission — or in the
local political establishment, for that matter — has devoted more
time or energy or constructive thought to the vexing and
still-unresolved issue of school funding than Mike Carpenter. Almost as
soon as he was sworn in after the countywide election of 2006,
Carpenter began thinking out loud about the relationship between the
Memphis school system and that of Shelby County. When the funding issue
heated up last year, he oversaw an ad hoc in-depth examination of the
problem across all jurisdictional lines.
Now, after the breakdown of earlier efforts to achieve an
understanding between the various principals, Carpenter is trying again
with a plan for single-source funding by the county that offers
legitimate incentives to everybody. Though his plan envisions
countywide property-tax increases in the third and fourth year of a
four-year transitional period, city residents would experience an
overall reduction in taxes via the conversion to single-source funding.
(Currently, Memphis residents pay property taxes to both the city and
the county.)
For their part, residents of Shelby County outside the city would
benefit from a reduction in the special school-bonds levy employed
several years ago to build a new school in Arlington. Further, by
virtue of the current state allocation formula (based on average daily
attendance), the county school system would net a $35 million
“windfall” once the $78 million in disputed funding for city schools is
permanently freed up. The $113 million required to fund the total
package would be augmented from expected normal revenue growth as well
as from the two proposed tax hikes.
All in all, it has the look of a potential bargain, though Carpenter
expects changes as the plan undergoes discussion over the next several
weeks. It’s a start, anyhow, and we congratulate the commissioner.
Vasco Smith
It is hard to imagine two more influential — or more
inspirational — figures in Memphis’ civil rights history than the
husband-wife team of Vasco and Maxine Smith. Though somewhat less in
the public eye than his wife, the longtime head of the local NAACP
chapter, Vasco Smith was as instrumental as she, both in his own right
and as her backup through several decades of strife and overdue change,
including the integration of the University of Memphis and Memphis
movie theaters.
Vasco Smith, who died this week from complications resulting from
bone cancer, was the first African American elected at large to the
County Commission, serving from 1974 to 1993. He was always an eloquent
advocate for the dispossessed and was a leader in the movement to
establish the Med as a fully equipped successor to John Gaston charity
hospital.
Though unyielding in his commitment to equal rights, the genial
dentist maintained friendships across all lines — racial,
political, social, and ideological. A raconteur, he was famous also as
a jazz aficionado, owning an extensive private collection of jazz
recordings.
Dr. Smith will be missed, not just in the sentimental or historical
sense but because so many people depended so long on his wit,
intelligence, and simple good cheer.
