Tag: school consolidation

Surely, no one would have expected in advance that Thursday night’s school-consolidation forum sponsored by the Mid-South Tea Party at Bartlett Municipal Center to be Shea Flinn’s cup of tea. But it turned into just that for the pro-merger city councilman from Midtown.

Not only did Flinn charm the overwhelmingly anti-merger crowd of maybe 200 with his candor and deft replies, he actually had a large cup of freshly bought iced tea brought to him by a spectator. Thereafter, he would periodically guzzle from a straw as his rhetorical adversaries — Shelby County Schools board chairman David Pickler, State Representative Curry Todd, and Bartlett Mayor Keith McDonald — took turns with the Anti position on consolidation.

It wasn’t meant to be a three-on-one — or, since the forum itself was preceded by a brief “town meeting” conducted by anti-merger county commissioners Chris Thomas, Terry Roland, and Wyatt Bunker, a six-on-one. But it turned out that way when one scheduled pro-merger panelist, State Representative G.A. Hardaway, ended up at another forum instead, and another, Memphis City Schools board member Martavius Jones, had to leave early for undisclosed reasons.

Flinn liked the odds. “I got this, although I was told there would be tea here,” he said. (Hence, the surprise gift from an audience member later on.)

Charming the crowd was one thing, convincing it was quite another. The closest Flinn got to getting concurrence from either the audience or any of the anti-merger panelists came when he opined that the whole consolidation controversy was not about education. “It’s about taxes. It’s about money,” he said Pickler seconded that motion, though his sense of how to apply that theory — as a way of saying consolidation would prove costly, not efficient — differed from Flinn’s.

And, rhetoric being rhetoric, both Flinn and Pickler, like the other participants, would also argue from the other end of the stick — that it was all about the pursuit of educational excellence, not money — each seeing his own perspective as the best way of guaranteeing academic achievement. At no point did any panelist touch upon the issue of race, though in the town-meeting warmup Thomas had extolled SCS for being “the most integrated school system in the state.”

On a night when, it seemed, four or five other consolidation-related forums were going on elsewhere, the one at Bartlett Municipal Center —, moderated by radio talk show host Ben Ferguson, who was later joined by WMC-TV anchor Joe Birch — was surprisingly informative . (Especially since, speaking of one-sided arrangements, Roland had quipped during the town meeting portion that disputes between himself and fellow suburban members Bunker and Thomas, on one hand, and the ten commissioners representing the City of Memphis, on the other, could be resolved this way: “We should go outside with all ten of them and whoever comes back inside could have it their way.”)

Actually, before his abrupt departure, Jones had his moments — for example, in making the familiar case that last December’s motion for dissolution of the MCS charter and subsequent merger with SCS, initiated by himself and fellow board member Tomeka Hart, was made necessary by the expressed post-election readiness of Pickler and SCS to push for a special school district. (After Jones had gone, Pickler would remind the crowd of a recent Flyer article in which Jones acknowledged having considered surrendering the charter as early as election night last November — a disclosure that imposed some chicken-and-egg uncertainty on the matter.)

Jones and Pickler got into a dispute about the meaning of the state Department of Education’s annual report cards, which most recently showed the SCS system with an A average, while MCS scored an F. Jones pointed out that the numerical difference was one of the mid 50s versus mid 40s, both scores failing on a 100-point scale, and he wondered: Why should anyone brag about making a higher F than someone else? Pickler disagreed, however, maintaining that that the state’s curved averages were not based on a 100-point scale and that SCS’s higher averages were legitimate and a major reason why his system was resisting consolidation with that of Memphis.

A good deal of time was spent discussing post-referendum outcomes, assuming a Yes vote by Memphis citizens on March 8. McDonald said his city was seriously interested in pursuing a municipal school district, as allowed by the recently passed Norris-Todd bill, sponsored by Rep. Todd and state Senator Mark Norris, both of Collierville.

Such a system for Bartlett would incorporate some 10,000 students in a total of 11 schools. The sticking point, said the mayor, was the question of how his city could afford to purchase the existing school infrastructure, with a book value of some $62 million. At one point, Flinn quipped, “Godspeed. Go nuts,” pointing out that Memphis residents had long been used to the expense of a dual educational system, paying city taxes for MCS and county taxes that went to both systems.

One running motif in Flinn’s case was that the very right of self-determination which the proponents of an independent Shelby County Schools system claimed for themselves applied to Memphis City Schools as well, and that included the MCS Board’s decision to cease being a special school district.

The matter of city-government payments to MCS became the basis of one of the few exchanges that bordered on the unfriendly when, in a reference to the $57 million currently owed by the city to MCS, Todd paraphrased Memphis Mayor A C Wharton as saying, “If I can combine these systems, I won’t have to pay it.” Flinn responded somewhat hotly, “That’s incorrect!”

Not long afterward, though, Todd threw Flinn a bouquet, indicating the courtliness that was more a part of the general dialogue than was anger. Councilman Flinn was a friend of his, the legislator said, and was the only member of the City Council who had bothered to consult with him on school matters during the preparation of SB25, HB52, the Norris-Todd bill. The bill provides for a post-referendum period of some 2 ½ years during which a county-oriented “planning commission” would prepare the way for eventual MCS-SCS merger, followed by a lifting of the ban — effectively only for Shelby County — on new municipal or special school districts.

“The city mayor didn’t. The [Memphis] School Board didn’t,” Todd said. “And you see how effective I was,” Flinn said ruefully.

At another point when Flinn was discussing alternative versions of a transition into merger — the City Council’s, the County Commission’s, and that of the Norris-Todd bill, Rep. Todd made a point of saying, “The Norris-Todd bill is law!” — Governor Haslam having signed the bill not long after its passage.

For all that, the panelists agreed that a good deal of litigation would be involved before the dust settled.

The discussion ranged over charter schools (with Pickler, a charter school foe, acknowledging that Governor Haslam had made lifting the cap on such schools a point of his educational reform plan); over the so-called “Chancery” plan, whereby a consolidated all-county district would be split into five more or less autonomous sub-districts; and over such remote possibilities as the state taking over the Memphis schools.

“This is our Apollo 13. Failure is not an option. We have to figure this out,” Flinn said.

Shelby County Commissioner Chris Thomas, one of four consistent opponents on the commission to the prospective merger of Memphis City Schools with Shelby County Schools, has asked the Shelby County District Attorney General’s office to rule on the propriety of MCS’ decision “to spend tax dollars on an alleged marketing campaign concerning the MCS Charter surrender referendum.”

In a letter to Bill Bright, a lawyer on the staff of D.A. Amy Weirich, Thomas cites the fact that the MCS Board has employed Trust Marketing to publicize the facts involved in the citywide March 8 referendum, which will decide whether the MCS-SCS merger can go forward. Beverly Robertson, a partner in the PR firm, made a presentation on Trust’s intent “to break it all the way down” at the Board’s Monday night work session.

“Simply put,” asked Thomas, “can our tax dollars legally be used to fund this kind of campaigning? If not, what can be done to stop this?”

The District 4 commissioner may or may not have known when he wrote his letter that a county commission majority, at a special commission meeting Wednesday morning, had voted in favor of chairman Sidney Chism sounding out MCS about sharing the services of Robertson and Trust Marketing. By a 7-to-1 margin (another District 4 commissioner, Terry Roland, being the lone holdout), the commission voted to reserve the body’s contingency fund for the purpose.

On the ground that “they’ve got the votes,” Thomas did not attend the Thursday morning meeting, which was called primarily to amend the number —from 27 to 25 — of prospective interim members the commission intends to name to an interim all-county school board. Like Roland and two other commissioners, Wyatt Bunker of District 4 and Heidi Shafer of District 1, Thomas has opposed any and all aspects of the county commission’s involvement in preparing for a merger of the two school districts.

Just hours after the Republican-dominated House of Representatives in Nashville acted in party-line lockstep to pass SB25, the Norris-Todd bill, the Memphis City Council voted with an equally impressive unanimity Thursday evening to accept the dissolution of the Memphis City Schools board — thereby ratifying the board’s December 20 vote to dissolve itself.

After minimal debate, the Council cast 10 votes Aye and no votes Nay, with recusals from council members Ed Ford and Bill Morrison, both of whom are employed by MCS. The vote jump-started an acceptance that,by the terms of an earlier Council action, would not have become official until after a forthcoming March 8 citywide referendum on MCS charter surrender.

The Council thereby became the second local legislative body in as many days to respond decisively to a General Assembly measure that is clearly designed to delay, thwart, or transcend the looming merger of Memphis and Shelby County schools. The Shelby County Commission, meeting in committee, had voted overwhelmingly on Wednesday to formally oppose SB25, to hire lawyer Leo Bearman as a litigator to that end, and to begin the process of creating an interim all-county school board.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, who becomes the de facto executor of MCS under the private legislative act which enabled the Council vote, made no effort to hide his anger at the Norris-Todd bill — which, among other things, would co-opt the March 8 referendum, facilitate the ultimate establishment of one or more special school districts in the Shelby County suburbs, and set up a 21-member “planning commission” on consolidation that would exclude the mayor and any potential appointees of his.

Wharton told reporters afterward that the Council action “directs me to file a plan of dissolution and to enter into negotiations with the county to see that the affairs of Memphis City Schools are carried out. “ Asked to elaborate, he spelled that out to mean the Shelby County Schools board, which under state law would become the governing agency for the city schools.

The mayor added: “I say that with a bit of anger because I’ve learned in the last few days …that the rules change when people in Memphis do things that the gods in Nashville don’t like. They may change the rules tonight… …Even if the people were not to vote, this action stands on its own.”

That last point was stated also by Council chairman Myron Lowery, who, in preparing Council members for the vote, professed the belief that the Council’s action would stand muster even in the unlikely event of a No vote in the March 8 referendum on transfer of MCS authority to the SCS board.

But Lowery entertained no prospect that the referendum effort would fail. Like Wharton, he saw local attitudes as likely to be galvanized by Thursday morning’s action of the state House, the video of which was carried online and widely seen locally.

“Memphis received a slap in the face and we were disregarded. We couldn’t even get an amendment where our mayor would be part of the committee to deal with this transition,” Lowery said.

“We acted under state law. We did not try to change the law in the middle of the game….Citizens are tired and fed up. The actions of the state legislature have unified Memphians in this community.”

Those who may have been undecided had resolved their doubts, the Council chairman said, predicting that the referendum measure would “pass overwhelmingly as a result of the strong-arm tactics that have been taken in the state legislature.”

Like most people who have followed t e developing school crisis, Wharton and Lowery expect the courts to have to adjudicate matters ranging from questions about the merger of the two school systems to the question of special school districts.

An immediate issue is that of whether MCS ceased to exist as of Thursday night or would only do so after a phasing-out period, possibly timed to conclude with the March 8 referendum.

The City Council’s attorney, Allan Wade, had advised the Council before its vote that MCS “would continue to exist only for the purpose of winding up their affairs.”

Mayor Wharton concurred: “My legal teaching tells me they’re out of existence. In the event that higher authorities concur in my belief that they no longer have any authority this would give — it’s an old law that’s been on the books for some times, that gives the city the responsibility to step in, no less, when a city school system goes out of existence and there are affairs that must be taken care of.”

Another issue concerns the point at which the county commission can enter the process by acting on its own transition plan. Wharton seemed open to the possibility that the commission could begin doing so immediately, as did MCS board member Martavius Jones, who with colleague Tomeka Hart had authored the idea of dissolving the school board’s charter.

That resonated with county commissioner Mike Ritz, who has actively pushed for the commission to implement its own transition plan, including the creation of new district lines across Shelby County and the appointment of interim members of an expanded board.

Ritz, a Republican, agreed with Wharton and Lowery that the legislature’s “high-handed” action had increased pro-merger opinion within Memphis and created an impetus for expediting the process.

• JB
• Council chairman Myron Lowery, Jim Strickland, and Reid Hedgepeth listen to a speaker from the audience.

NASHVILLE — Within a two-day period, the advocates of immediate merger of Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools have seen the hopes they had invested in a forthcoming March 8 referendum to that end scrambled by a classic good cop/bad cop maneuver.

On Tuesday had come word from Governor Bill Haslam and acting Education Commissioner Patrick Smith that, while the citywide referendum should go through, the state required one “transition plan” to safeguard the rights of affected teachers and another one for general planning purposes.

Failure to comply — and the onus was extended to the boards of both MCS and SCS — could mean withholding of state funding. And there were deadlines: February 15 for plan number one, March 1 for number 2.

It was all said neatly and sweetly, but the message was clear: We — the “we” being the forces of a perhaps legitimately aggrieved establishment — Can Still Keep This From Happening.

During the course of a meeting in City Hall on Tuesday, various Democratic legislators and officials of city and county government lamented the pressure and the deadlines that went with it. But Memphis Mayor A C Wharton, the consistent defender of Memphis’ right to self-determination, said it all could be done: It would be difficult, but the good-cop conditions and deadlines could be complied with.

But on Wednesday, in a committee room in Nashville’s Legislative Plaza, the bad-cop possibility — the one that the pro-merger groups had been fearing for some time — materialized in the form of a completed and amended bill — SB25, HB 51 — from state Senate majority leader Mark Norris of Collierville.

The “bad cop” appellation should not be misunderstood. No one is more sweetly natured or courteous or accommodating than Norris — and that fact of his DNA (or his upbringing) works very well to the advantage of another of the senator’s traits: No one is more unrelenting or undeviating concerning the preservation and pursuit of an agenda which he is dedicated to.

And defense of the Shelby County schools against the threat of amalgamation with Memphis City Schools is very much a part of Senator Norris’ agenda.

Witness the amended bill that he presented to the Senate Education Committee on Wednesday and which was cleared for passage on the Senate floor Monday by a party-line vote — 6 Republicans prevailing over 3 Democrats. Should that plan — which faces rosy prospects in both Senate and House — become law and withstand the legal challenges that are sure to come, the game could well be over for the pro-merger forces. Game, set, match, tournament, and championship.

Seen dispassionately and without reference to its rights and wrongs or to the emotions of one kind or another that it will engender, the completed SB25 is a thing of beauty. It does all of the following things:

-Allows the March 8 referendum to occur without challenge, thereby avoiding one potential legal morass;
-Imposes a delay of two years and some-odd months on implementing the results of a successful election;
-Presumes to give over the very definition of those results to a 21-member commission composed as follows: the county mayor, the chair of the Memphis City Schools board and the chair of the Shelby County Schools board; 15 members appointed — five each — by the county mayor, the MSC chair, and the SCS chair; and three additional members appointed by the governor and the speakers of each legislative chamber.

(For those who are counting, that’s prohibitively top-heavy in favor of county interests, potential Republican Party allegiances, or the vested positions or self-interests of those now holding the offices in question; indeed, given various principals’ known points of view, not a single one of those 21 members could be head-counted as definitely favoring merger, while several could be safely locked in on the other side.)

To resume, the bill:

-Gives the state Department of Education the right of review; and

-(Piece de resistance!) would revoke current state prohibitions against creating municipal school districts or new special school districts at the very point of implementing the now denatured referendum results (“the beginning of the third full school year immediately following certification of the election results,” i.e, August 2013) and would (italics ours) thereby permit the creation of a special school district for the current schools in the SCS system — the casus belli which allegedly provoked the MCS board’s pro-merger forces into acting in the first place!

Clearly, Senator Norris possesses either genius or chutzpah. His bill, while ostensibly not interfering with Memphians’ right to determine the destiny of their city’s school system (which, by order of Chancery Court, had become a fait accompli anyhow), undertakes to interpret the consequences of a successful referendum so as to achieve, at a suitable interval, the very end which the referendum was meant to prevent!

To be sure, Norris’ final version of his bill dropped any provision for a final countywide vote. Under the circumstances, it’s hard to imagine what purpose would be served by one. Formal ratification of what would appear to be a sweeping county-side victory and likely nullification of the original purposes of the referendum?

The senator, of course, was characteristically gracious enough not to make any gloating claims (though some of his supporters were less diffident about doing so). Norris himself defined his measure as one that provided “enhanced self-determination” for Memphis, as “an orderly transition process,” and as an effort “to facilitate the referendum and the process to make it not only meaningful but successful.”

The only proper response to that is “Wow!”

For the record, though, Education Committee vice chair Reginald Tate of Memphis and Senator Andy Berke of Chattanooga put some demurrers into the record and voted against the bill, along with one other Democrat, Charlotte Burks of Monterey.

Berke was especially focused in his criticism. The bill had changed the rules of the game, he said. (Norris had characterized it as a new game without any pre-set rules.)

“People are always complaining about Washington trying to control us, and here we are in Nashville trying to control Memphis,” Berke said, pointing out that Governor Haslam and Commissioner Smith had already created prospective ground rules for local officials to comply with in Shelby County. “Why are we interfering?”

After the meeting adjourned, Berke put it this way: “The purpose of this amendment is to try to delay this thing for three years, then have the potential for separating out the county’s [district] at the end of it anyway.”

State Representative G.A. Hardaway, who called the commission created by the bill a “joke,” had no trouble agreeing with that summation.

For his part, SCS superintendent John Aitken, who was on hand for the vote, was relieved, counting the bill “a great victory for us.” Speaking for himself and, by proxy, for MCS superintendent Kriner Cash, with whom he had discussed the situation at length by telephone on the way up to Nashville Wednesday, Dr. Aitken said, “I appreciate the effort and the planning process. I think that’s what Superintendent Cash and I were both were asking for. This bill allows it, and now we’ll see what the House does.”

The House, which was scheduled to take up the bill on Thursday, is expected to act in the same spirit as the Senate, after which the bill will go to Governor Haslam for final action.

The governor summoned members of the Capitol press pack for a quick briefing after the Senate committee’s action, telling them that, while he appreciated both the creation of a “process” and the bill’s apparent acknowledgement that the issue was a local one, his “gut feeling” was that the extended time frame provided by the bill might put MCS “in limbo.” And, pending further reflection and possible elaboration from Norris, Haslam withheld judgment on the bill’s providing a window for creation of a new special school district.

Meanwhile, Chairman Myron Lowery of the Memphis City Council announced that the council’s February 1 regular meeting would be reconvened at 4:30 Thursday “to consider any unfinished business…or any emergency option permitted by any previously adopted resolution or ordinance.”

Among other things, that probably means that the council will complete a prior action that was left conditional on the results of the March 8 referendum, and would take an up-or-down vote to directly endorse the MCS board’s December 20 action in favor of surrendering its charter.

Some believe that such a vote would invoke another portion of state law and directly enable the dissolution of the MCS charter, thereby accomplishing an automatic merger of the two school systems.

An end run around Norris’ end run, as it were, and, like Norris’ bill and, for that matter, like doubtless many other actions to come on both sides, fodder for the courts.