As we are napalmed with lies and assailed by fear mongers, we received this dose of reality- the facts about school merger and reasons to support it –  from our friend, Shelby County Commissioner and University of Memphis constitutional law expert Steve Mulroy:

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD VOTE “YES” ON SCHOOL UNITY:

1.  We are one county.  Schoolchildren in Memphis deserve an equal education opportunity to schoolchildren in the suburbs.  We should have a system where the dollars follow the kids depending on need, regardless of which side of the city-county line they’re on.

2.  This is the best chance we have to prevent SCS from getting special school district status, which would (a) permanently wall off the suburban kids from Memphis kids; (b) permanently prevent us from ever reconsidering school consolidation; (c) potentially shrink the tax base for MCS, so that Memphis taxpayers would have to pay higher taxes-the rate would rise over 40 cents; (d) permanently choke off our ability to grow education funding in the future for MCS.

3.  This would end the double taxation of Memphians, who pay for schools through county taxes and then again through City taxes.  The City would no longer have to pay for MCS.  That’s $78 million per year that Memphis could save.

4.  This would spread the funding among the whole county.  We’ve been saying for years we like “single source funding” of schools.  This would accomplish it.

5.  This would lead to more efficient spending of our education dollars.  We’d (a) eliminate duplicate levels of  higher-up bureaucracy, and (b) get rid of the ADA formula (the state rule which says that every

time the county spends a dollar on county schools, it has to spend 2.5 dollars more on city schools), which, while good sometimes and needed as long as we have separate school systems, also causes a lot of wasteful
spending
.

6.  This is a historic opportunity for remaking our school system.  After Hamilton County unified county and city school systems under analogous circumstances in the late 1990s, neutral observers praised the unified system’s ability to focus resources on the neediest of schools and children.

7.  Even if the day-to-day experiences of schoolchildren didn’t change all that much, the fact that they would grow up in a unified school system would help to get rid of this “us versus them” mentality that has held us back for so long.

QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ON SCHOOL UNIFICATION

Q:   How would school unification work?

A:  A referendum would take place throughout Memphis some time in February.  If a majority of those voting vote YES, unification would occur.

Q:  Would suburban voters outside Memphis be able to vote in the referendum?

A:  No.  State law established Memphis City Schools (MCS) as a special school district within the City only, and only residents of Memphis can vote in the referendum.  Tenn. Attorney General Opinion No. 11-5, Jan. 10, 2011.

Q:  If the referendum passes, what happens then?

A:    A unified school board will then be chosen to govern the new unified school district.

Q: Would a YES vote mean Memphis schools will be run indefinitely by the Shelby County School Board and the Shelby County Schools Administration?

A: No. Those bodies would be in operational control for only a very brief time, until the County Commission could act to appoint unified school board members or set up a special election.  See below.

Q: Could Shelby County Schools use its brief “operational control” period to harm Memphis teachers or students—e.g., abolishing union contracts, eliminating the optional program, abolishing charter schools, etc.?

A: Not likely.  First, its operational control period would likely be too brief to accomplish such sweeping changes.  Second, the Shelby County Schools Administration would not likely be motivated to do so, knowing that its soon-to-be-boss, the new unified school board, would almost certainly oppose such radical changes.  Third, even if it did so, the new unified school board would almost certainly undo such changes once it took office.  (See below).

Q:  Do we know how this new unified school board would be chosen?

A:  Pretty much.  There are general state statutes giving the County Commission the authority to draw districts to elect school board members, appoint interim school board members in the case of vacancies, arrange for special elections, etc.   There are also general constitutional rules ensuring that Memphis voters be represented on a countywide school board.

Q: So how would the new unified school board be chosen, then?

A:  The County Commission would draw a unified school district districting plan.  In the meantime, it likely could appoint interim school board members representing Memphis.  Separately, it would call for a special election under the districting plan, so that Memphis voters would get their fair share of representation.   State and federal constitutional provisions entitle Memphis voters to representation on the unified school board and almost certainly a special election to that end, one likely within months rather than years.   See Jan. 7, 2011 Letter from Leo Bearman  Lori Patterson, Baker Donelson Law Firm (contracted by the County Attorney to opine on this question).

Q: Would this unified school board adequately represent Memphians and African-Americans?

A:  Yes.   Seven of the 13 County Commissioners come from Memphis-only districts, and 3 more come from districts which are majority-Memphis.   Six of the 13 members are African-American, and 7 are Democrats.  There is no reason to expect they would use their appointment or redistricting authority to do anything but fairly reflect black and Memphian voting strength.

Q: How can we be sure the County Commission won’t use its power to dilute the voting strength of African-Americans, or Memphians, or suburban voters, for that matter?

A:  Any redistricting scheme which failed to fairly reflect such demographics would be challengeable in court under state and federal law.

Q: Who would run the school system if the voters voted YES? Who would serve as the superintendent?

A:  The Shelby County Schools Superintendent would serve as Superintendent for a brief transition period, until the new unified school board could be appointed or elected.  Once the new unified school board was sworn in, it could then choose to retain or replace that Superintendent.

Q: What about the current MCS Superintendent?

A:  The dissolution of Memphis City Schools would deprive him of authority. Since his contract has not yet expired, it would be necessary to continue to pay him for some period, though not necessarily to use him.     Shelby County Schools, in the interim, and the unified school board, over the long term, could decide to hire him as Superintendent or in some other capacity, but that would be up to them.

Q: What has been the experience of similar jurisdictions which have consolidated an urban school system with the county school system?

A:  The closest analogy is Chattanooga, which merged with Hamilton County in 1997.  It had a low-income, predominately black city school district and a more middle-class, predominately white county district.  A 2006 Education Week academic article praised its merger as a success which “went off without any substantial hitch” and led to education improvements.  A 2007 Annenberg Policy Institute report detailed specific reforms, like increasing college attendance and improving high school academic rigor through the creation of theme-based high school “academies,” which occurred in the years following consolidation.

And a recent Chattanooga Free Press editorial supported Memphis school merger, stating it would help to reverse the City-County, black-white division in Memphis.  Re: its own merger, it said:

“But the evidence here confirms that the merger has focused more effective attention on student performance in urban schools. Efforts to improve teaching  standards, raise school test scores   and graduation rates, and programs involving magnet schools and minority-to-majority transfers have improved achievement countywide and insured fairer focus on children and schools previously left behind.