Schools not giving up on funding issue
Orgel: ‘We don’t have a backup scenario’
Shelby County Board of Education members are clinging to the belief that the bare-bones school budget approved by the County Commission eventually will be funded, and at least one commissioner is offering encouragement.
“That’s not only possible, but that’s the scenario that I think is going to happen,” said Commissioner Steve Basar, who voted with the majority of commissioners Monday against a 6-cent increase in the property tax rate earmarked for schools. “But you never know until the votes are cast.”
The proposed increase would have produced an estimated $9.6 million for the Shelby County Schools’ 2013-14 general fund budget. Combined with a $10.4 million increase from other property tax revenues, the tax hike would have raised county funding of education by about $20 million and helped balance the district’s $1.186 billion bud- get for the new fiscal year.
Basar said he hopes colleagues on the commission will challenge the administration of County Mayor Mark Luttrell to produce the $9.6 million through additional efficiencies without raising taxes beyond the certified property tax rate of $4.32 per $100 assessed valuation.
“Symbolically, we’re keeping revenue flat but increasing the spending to the schools to bridge the gap for the year before the formation of suburban munici- pal school districts,” Basar said. “This gets us going down the path where we reduce government spending over time.
In a 5-7 bipartisan vote Monday, the commission rejected the mayor’s proposed $4.38 tax rate, which included a certified tax rate of $4.32 — the rate that would be required to produce the same amount of revenue as last year’s rate — plus 6 cents for schools.
The vote frustrated members of the board that oversees the newly merged Memphis and Shelby County Schools. The board started in January with a proposed spending plan that was $145 million in the red. For four months it trudged through an arduous process cutting $75 million from the two districts’ combined budgets, mainly through the outsourcing of some district jobs and the elimination of others.
Some board members have suggested that additional trimming would almost certainly have to come from adjustments
in a staffing ratio that has already created an increase in the studentteacher ratios for suburban schools.
Board chairman Billy Orgel said Friday he is counting on the budget to be fully funded. “We appreciate their approving our budget and the funds that came with it, so we have made our plans accordingly,” he said. “Our expectation is those are the funds we will have to take care of 145,000 students and 24,000 employees … We don’t have a backup scenario.”
Board member Chris Caldwell said the board “worked in a very straightforward and prudent manner” to produce an austere spending plan for the new district. “I think we have found more efficiencies and made a smaller request than even the (Transition Planning Commission) had recommended,” he said. “We made a goodfaith effort to do our best and make some hard decisions that have affected a lot of people.”
The County Commission appears to be the only viable source to fund the district’s budget. A proposal by Commissioner Henri Brooks to seek additional funds from suburban municipalities that have been socking away the proceeds from a sales tax increase in anticipation of the creation of their own school districts appears to be a non-starter.
“It makes sense to me when we’re facing a deficit and you have discretionary monies you could add something toward that deficit,” Brooks said.
Arlington Mayor Mike Wissman, a member of the school board, said the proposal amounts to no more than “political posturing.”
“There hasn’t been any discussion of it that I’m aware of, nor has anyone approached us to do that,” he said. “Memphis is a municipality and hasn’t contributed the money they’re obligated to contribute,” he said. “Another issue is even though we are planning (municipal schools), in the consolidated system our parents are still paying for a lot of things, including athletics, that legacy Memphis City Schools parents aren’t paying for.”
If the county commission would drop its lawsuit challenging the formation of suburban municipal schools, Wissman added, “maybe we could all have more money to spend. We’re all spending money on attorneys right now.”