February 15, 2008
COMMISSIONER CARPENTER'S RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE COUNTY'S HUGE DEBT DUE TO SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION. THAT DEBT HAS RISEN FROM $374 MILLION TO $1.1 BILLION IN 9 YEARS
In response to emails sent to County Commissioners by readers of the memphiswatchdog.org and shelbywatchdog.blogspot.com postings concerning the ADA law passed in 1997, Commissioner Carpenter responded with the following email. I will answer some of his points.
1) I admit that many of our government problems come from stupid and unnesessary requirements and stipulations passed down from Washington and the Courts without the funds to pay for their implementation. One of the worst was that the County and the City must fund schools at the same level as the previous year regardless of performance and probably regardless of funds available and attendance. This means that if you cut overhead and expenses, you still cannot cut funding. This takes away any possibility of good management reducing costs.
2) His next point concerned the Needs Assessment Committee (NAC). I have attached a copy of their report and anyone who reads and believes this report I would like to sell them a waterfront lot in Mayor Herenton’s Banneker Estates. I point you to two attached articles. One is a Memphis Flyer article that points out the following.“According to figures from the Tennessee Department of Education, SCS's population remained stable for the past decade while the population of Memphis City Schools (MCS) grew by roughly 10,000 students. In 1995, the county schools served 43,800 students. Despite that figure spiking to almost 49,000 in 1999, it was down to 45,000 in 2005. Over those 10 years, MCS' population went from 108,000 students to 118,000”.
3) If you read the NAC report, you will see the schools and the spending that they want for a system that is barely growing if any. This makes absolutely no sense. It would be like a manufacturing company building lots of new factories when sales were flat. This is lunacy. Also I have attached a portion of a report done for the Memphis School System by MGT of America at a cost of $575,000. This portion of the report shows that MCS went $80 million dollars over budget on new school construction and repairs. The MCS system is completely inept and out of control and deserves our contempt but not our tax money.
Moreover, I have attached a report on the consequences of consolidation by David Pickler, the very competent and knowledgeable head of the County School Board. This shows that consolidation of the City and County Schools systems, as Mayor Herenton wants, would be a complete disaster and would only serve to raise the already monumental education costs and probably bankrupt the City and County.
What is the answer to this crisis? The answer will not come from politicians, but only from taxpayers. Taxpayers have to take back their government from the politicians and let them know that they want reform and discipline in their government. We should start with the County by a petition to propose “NO PROPERTY TAX INCREASE WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL” or a proposal for no total tax increase (in whatever form) greater than the increase in the inflation rate. That will get their attention.
Click here to see how the Memphis School Board ran over budget in just a few short years by $80 million dollars on school construction and repair
Click here to read the joint Needs Assessment Committee report on the huge spending they want to do on a school system that is static in student growth
Click here to read David Pickler's report on the consequences of any consolidation between the City and the County's school system as Mayor Herenton has proposed
Click here for flyer article on the school situation
Here is his Commissioner Carpenter’s email response.
Thank you for your e-mail. I am also concerned about the county's debt, which as a new Commissioner I inherited and our approach to school construction. However, the information Mr. Saino has provided to you is not completely accurate.
The 3 to 1 ADA formula was created by state statute. However, the statute was necessitated by a lawsuit and State Supreme Court ruling that required it. The lawsuit dealt with funding for rural school systems, which the state of Tennessee lost, and resulted in the supreme court requiring the overhaul of the education funding system. This legislation had to be agreed upon by the court and the legislature. In addition to the ADA formula, the lawsuit resulted in the BEP funding formula and "maintenance of effort," which means that the County must fund schools to the same level as the previous year, whether the school systems are performing well or not.
With that background, rural school bonds are an option in some cases. However, the idea that rural school bonds are the answer to all of our debt and school construction problems is misleading. The Needs Assessment Committee (NAC), a group of private citizens appointed by Mayor Wharton, to help us set construction priorities, identified nearly $500 million in deferred maintenance in Memphis City Schools. Many of these schools have been neglected and in some cases life/safety repairs need to be made. While I, nor anyone else, is happy with the management of Memphis City Schools, there are legitimate construction needs that in my view outweigh many of the County needs.
So what are the answers? First of all discipline. The county debt is actually 1.793 billion, which is a decline from last year. Our debt has been restructured and if we hold CIP spending to $75 million or less annually, the debt will continue to come down. Second, is we must use all of our leverage to get the two school systems to agree to standardized construction processes. This is one area the NAC has not been successful. Another option is to look at the possibility of a Joint Board of Control, which with the agreement of the two school systems would take responsibility for construction out of the hands of the two school boards.
As far as developer impact fees, this Commission is holding developers accountable for infrastructure. Our decisions on development to this point demonstrate that. In relation to schools however, developer impact fees wouldn't begin to pay for the cost of school construction. Particularly now when the housing market is depressed. In a boom, this could be viable, but now would not do much for us.
Thanks again for your e-mail. Please contact me any time.
Sincerely,
Mike Carpenter
County Commissioner
COMMISSIONER CARPENTER'S RESPONSE TO COMPLAINTS ABOUT THE COUNTY'S HUGE DEBT DUE TO SCHOOL CONSTRUCTION. THAT DEBT HAS RISEN FROM $374 MILLION TO $1.1 BILLION IN 9 YEARS
In response to emails sent to County Commissioners by readers of the memphiswatchdog.org and shelbywatchdog.blogspot.com postings concerning the ADA law passed in 1997, Commissioner Carpenter responded with the following email. I will answer some of his points.
1) I admit that many of our government problems come from stupid and unnesessary requirements and stipulations passed down from Washington and the Courts without the funds to pay for their implementation. One of the worst was that the County and the City must fund schools at the same level as the previous year regardless of performance and probably regardless of funds available and attendance. This means that if you cut overhead and expenses, you still cannot cut funding. This takes away any possibility of good management reducing costs.
2) His next point concerned the Needs Assessment Committee (NAC). I have attached a copy of their report and anyone who reads and believes this report I would like to sell them a waterfront lot in Mayor Herenton’s Banneker Estates. I point you to two attached articles. One is a Memphis Flyer article that points out the following.“According to figures from the Tennessee Department of Education, SCS's population remained stable for the past decade while the population of Memphis City Schools (MCS) grew by roughly 10,000 students. In 1995, the county schools served 43,800 students. Despite that figure spiking to almost 49,000 in 1999, it was down to 45,000 in 2005. Over those 10 years, MCS' population went from 108,000 students to 118,000”.
3) If you read the NAC report, you will see the schools and the spending that they want for a system that is barely growing if any. This makes absolutely no sense. It would be like a manufacturing company building lots of new factories when sales were flat. This is lunacy. Also I have attached a portion of a report done for the Memphis School System by MGT of America at a cost of $575,000. This portion of the report shows that MCS went $80 million dollars over budget on new school construction and repairs. The MCS system is completely inept and out of control and deserves our contempt but not our tax money.
Moreover, I have attached a report on the consequences of consolidation by David Pickler, the very competent and knowledgeable head of the County School Board. This shows that consolidation of the City and County Schools systems, as Mayor Herenton wants, would be a complete disaster and would only serve to raise the already monumental education costs and probably bankrupt the City and County.
What is the answer to this crisis? The answer will not come from politicians, but only from taxpayers. Taxpayers have to take back their government from the politicians and let them know that they want reform and discipline in their government. We should start with the County by a petition to propose “NO PROPERTY TAX INCREASE WITHOUT VOTER APPROVAL” or a proposal for no total tax increase (in whatever form) greater than the increase in the inflation rate. That will get their attention.
Click here to see how the Memphis School Board ran over budget in just a few short years by $80 million dollars on school construction and repair
Click here to read the joint Needs Assessment Committee report on the huge spending they want to do on a school system that is static in student growth
Click here to read David Pickler's report on the consequences of any consolidation between the City and the County's school system as Mayor Herenton has proposed
Click here for flyer article on the school situation
Here is his Commissioner Carpenter’s email response.
Thank you for your e-mail. I am also concerned about the county's debt, which as a new Commissioner I inherited and our approach to school construction. However, the information Mr. Saino has provided to you is not completely accurate.
The 3 to 1 ADA formula was created by state statute. However, the statute was necessitated by a lawsuit and State Supreme Court ruling that required it. The lawsuit dealt with funding for rural school systems, which the state of Tennessee lost, and resulted in the supreme court requiring the overhaul of the education funding system. This legislation had to be agreed upon by the court and the legislature. In addition to the ADA formula, the lawsuit resulted in the BEP funding formula and "maintenance of effort," which means that the County must fund schools to the same level as the previous year, whether the school systems are performing well or not.
With that background, rural school bonds are an option in some cases. However, the idea that rural school bonds are the answer to all of our debt and school construction problems is misleading. The Needs Assessment Committee (NAC), a group of private citizens appointed by Mayor Wharton, to help us set construction priorities, identified nearly $500 million in deferred maintenance in Memphis City Schools. Many of these schools have been neglected and in some cases life/safety repairs need to be made. While I, nor anyone else, is happy with the management of Memphis City Schools, there are legitimate construction needs that in my view outweigh many of the County needs.
So what are the answers? First of all discipline. The county debt is actually 1.793 billion, which is a decline from last year. Our debt has been restructured and if we hold CIP spending to $75 million or less annually, the debt will continue to come down. Second, is we must use all of our leverage to get the two school systems to agree to standardized construction processes. This is one area the NAC has not been successful. Another option is to look at the possibility of a Joint Board of Control, which with the agreement of the two school systems would take responsibility for construction out of the hands of the two school boards.
As far as developer impact fees, this Commission is holding developers accountable for infrastructure. Our decisions on development to this point demonstrate that. In relation to schools however, developer impact fees wouldn't begin to pay for the cost of school construction. Particularly now when the housing market is depressed. In a boom, this could be viable, but now would not do much for us.
Thanks again for your e-mail. Please contact me any time.
Sincerely,
Mike Carpenter
County Commissioner
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