I am a product of the Memphis City Schools System. I graduated in 1976, 30th out of a class of 360.

I don’t say that as an exercise in braggadocio, but, rather, in deep sorrow for the delapidated state of what was once one of the nation’s finest metropolitan school systems.

Back on February 13th, in a post titled A Scholastic Soap Opera in Memphis, I reported the following:

In the last few days, things have really come to a head in this scholastic soap opera:

• The Memphis City School Board voted Monday night, December 20th, 2010 to let City voters decide on March 8th whether to surrender its charter.
• On Thursday, February 10th, 2011, the Memphis City Council voted 10 – 0 to accept the decision by the Memphis City Schools Board of Education to surrender its charter, wiping out the city school board in one vote.
• On Friday, February 11th, 2011, Tennessee Governor Bill Haslan signed into law a measure designed to delay any merger between the two systems.

And, through all of this, the wishes of the Shelby County School Board and the citizens that it represents have been tossed aside, because…wait for it…it’s for the children.

Well, now, Memphis has hit the national wires again with a story of poor management, involving, you guessed it, the Memphis City Schools  System.

The school board voted Tuesday night, by a tally of 8-1, to postpone the start of the school year indefinitely, locked in a spittin’ (I cleaned that up.) contest with the Memphis City Council, and in the process, once again putting the former “City of Good Abode” in the national spolight for all the wrong reasons.

Classes for Memphis City Schools have been halted because local professional politicians have decided that the education of urban children, many living in depressed conditions, is not as important as the $55 million which the city of Memphis owes them, budgeted for the schools from the city’s tax revenue.

According to board member Tomeka Hart:

We’ve been patient; we’ve cut 1,500 jobs. We’re not going for everything. We’re not saying give us everything you owe. We are just saying we have to have the money in the bank from our city so we can pay our bills.

It’s a difficult situation they are in but we can’t continue to sacrifice our difficult situation to help them out of theirs. We did not create this situation, and we are a governing body as well.

City Council president and former TV news anchor Myron Lowery fired back, claiming that several of the funding issues are tied up in court and therefore not negotiable right now:

The council supplies less than 10 percent of almost a billion-dollar school budget. They have voted to delay for having less than 10 percent in hand. That is ridiculous.

Per Lowery, the problem is a failure to communicate between School Board President Kriner Cash and Mayor AC Wharton.

Employees of the school system will not receive a paycheck until school finally starts, which will effect thousands of personnel, including Sarah Harper, who spoke at the meeting of the school board, saying:

…as much as I would like to get paid, as much I need to get paid, let’s not muddy the water about what the real issue is. Our children are being made the pawns. The city of Memphis needs to fund Memphis City Schools and fund them now. Demand they make this right.”

Fellow employee, Clara Ford,  also emotionally addressed the school board, proclaiming:

We’ve got to have the money. If we don’t have it, we can’t open the doors. I will guarantee you this city would be up in arms if they have to teach their children at home or find somewhere for them to go.

School superintendent Kriner Cash attempted to be as politically correct as he could, walking a fine line between altruism and avarice, regarding the board’s vote:

Our children need to be in school. I can’t tell you that passionately or emphatically enough. I am going to keep fighting to get a resolution. What’s next? I expect the city to be in touch with us.

For his part, Memphis Mayor AC Wharton could not understand why the school board delayed the start of the school year:

The money is in the budget — no ifs, ands or buts about it. On Friday, I stated to Dr. Cash that we have fully funded Memphis City Schools for the fiscal year 2012. The money is there, point blank. I don’t know how to state that with any more clarity.

The mayor was fit to be tied, as he pounded the podium repeatedly, resonating through the city council’s chambers.

The school board says the city has failed to give it funds totaling $151 million over four years, including $78.4 million for the 2011-12 school year.

In return, the city council has not approved the district’s budget, required by state law. The district has to submit its budget to the state by Aug. 1. School was supposed to start on Aug. 8.

To add to the school system’s misery, if they cannot produce an approved budget which proves that the city will pay up by schools by Oct. 1, new Commissioner of Education Kevin Huffman told Superintendent Kriner Cash on Tuesday that he would withhold state funding for MCS.

The state provides 50 per cent of the funding for public education in Memphis.

The City Schools’ Budget was not approved until Sept. 14 last year, more than a month after the start of school.

According to school board attorney Dorsey Hopson, this year’s budget is different, because the Memphis City Council’s legal position in the merger with Shelby County Schools is that the city schools no longer exist.

However, until now, they were still getting paid for their incompetency.