In an email to council education chair Janis Fullilove yesterday,
Memphis City School Board president Tomeka Hart asked for clarification
of the two bodies’ working relationship.
“While I had hoped that we could work together to develop an annual
agenda … the MCS staff has received requests to report to the committee
on a bi-monthly basis. … It is difficult for our staff to prepare for
such a meeting, and as you know under Tennessee Code Annotated, the
Superintendent reports to the School Board, with his/her staff reporting
to him/her.”
The council’s education committee expected representatives of the school
district to be at City Hall yesterday and to participate in a discussion
about alternative schools, discipline, graduation rates, and the school
district’s budget. Only school board member Kenneth Whalum Jr. attended,
angering members of the council.
Hart said that she and the superintendent would attend committee
meetings May 20th to present the MCS budget.
Full Text of email
Councilwoman Fullilove,
I left you a voicemail, but decided to send you this email in case we do
not connect today. We need clarification regarding the MCS presentations
to the Education Committee. As I stated to you when we met, I feel
strongly that the School Board and City Council should have a good
working relationship; certainly one better than what the bodies have had
in the past. The two bodies should be committed to working together to
make sure our children and citizens receive the best service as related
to their education, standard/conditions of living, safety/security,
well-being, etc. To do so, the two bodies should meet on a regular basis
to discuss the issues affecting our children and communities. With that,
I want to make sure the bodies understand their roles and reporting
responsibilities.
While I had hoped that we could work together to develop an annual
agenda (i.e. quarterly meetings to discuss selected issues), the MCS
staff has received requests to report to the committee on a bi-monthly
basis (once or twice with a week’s notice), and to be prepared to
discuss broad management level issues. It is difficult for our staff to
prepare for such a meeting, and as you know under Tennessee Code
Annotated, the Superintendent reports to the School Board, with his/her
staff reporting to him/her. Additionally, the TCA defines the role of the Superintendent and the Board, giving the responsibilities of
management to the Superintendent and that of governance and policy
setting to the School Board. Thus, under state law, the School Board
does not even have the authority to control the management function of
education.
While we don’t want to create another reporting body for the MCS staff,
we certainly understand the Council’s need and desire for more
information regarding the district in efforts of holding the district
accountable for the funds you provide. To that end, we have always
provided the Council with our annual audit and a detailed annual budget
to assist you in making your funding decisions. The Superintendent and
Board members have and will always attend the budget presentation to
answer any questions the Education Committee and Council may have.
Further, as I stated in our meeting, I look forward to the members of
the Board meeting and working with the Council more regularly.
When the Education Committee voted to require us to make a presention of
our audit to the Audit Committee, it did so on the basis that the
council requires all of its quasi-governmental bodies to do so. The MCS was created by the Tennessee Legislature and is thus an actual
governmental body; not a quasi-governmental body operating under the arms of the Council. To be sure, the Council’s resolution establishing
this requirement does not list MCS as a body required to present its
audit. However, in the spirit of collaboration, we send you our annual
audit each year. Further, Martavius Jones (Vice-President and Chair of
our Audit Committee) and I will gladly meet with the committee to
discuss our audit. However, we are not available do so on May 6, but
would like to set a time that is convenient for the committee and us. I
will set this up with Councilman Boyd.
As for the meeting on April 15, the MCS has historically submitted our
budgets to the Council’s and Commission’s education committes on April 15, giving you time to review it and develop your questions. The
Superintendent and Board members then return at a later date to answer
the Education Committee’s questions. The budget is then presented to the
full council. We plan to submit the budget to your committee on April
15, and then the Superintendent, I and any other Board member who wants
to attend, are scheduled to meet with your committee on May 20 to answer
any questions you may have.
Please call me when you get an opportunity so we can discuss this. I
welcome the opportunity to have a closer working relationship with the
Council. I just want to make sure we do it properly, respecting the
roles and responsibilities of each other. Also, I would like to assure
you that the School Board and staff are very much aware of the issues
and challenges facing the MCS. The School Board acts within its power
and challenges the Superintendent to address the issues and to provide
effective solutions.
Thanks.
Tomeka Hart