IT IS ALL ABOUT JOBS, EDUCATION IS SECONDARY, LOOK AT THE FIGURES

I have been studying the various school systems for months such as Nashville, Louisville, Memphis and Shelby County. I have been going through the budgets and reports. Finally, someone suggested I look at the student population, number of employees, the budgets and the CPI from 10 years ago (1998) and compare them with 2008. Bingo!!

Here is all you need to know about the Memphis City School System (MCS). Yesterday when I first published these figures I had the student population at the MCS as 110,000. I since found out that Dr. Cash confirmed in a Flyer article that the figure is 103,000 and this was confirmed by a School System executive. This then shows a 5.6% decrease over ten years in student population but a 54% increase in employees and a 69% increase in budget.

Memphis City Schools	Year 1998	Year 2008	% difference
number of students K12	109137	103000	-5.60%
number of employees	10693	16500	54%
general fund budget	$550,147,000	$931,966,000	69%
CPI up over 10 years			31%

It is obvious that the objective of the MCS system is not education, it is jobs. The control and the increase of jobs is what gives politicians power. Minus 5.6% decrease in students over 10 years but 54% increase in employees. There is no excuse. The results of the system are abysmal. On top of this fiscal outrage in employment is the cost of new schools for a static school population which has seen a huge increase in the debt of Shelby County.

One answer is to cut the employment and cut deep. Another is reform of the system. Moreover we need competition. We need an educational experiment. Let's take half of the average cost per student, $4500, and offer it to the families of students to buy an education at a qualified private school and take the other $4500 and add it to the budget of the MCS. This would give the MCS more money per student and then let's track the performance of those students who leave for private schools and see the results versus the MCS.

I have attached the MCS documents to verify the above figures. Now is the budget making cycle at the City and the County. Call your City Councilman, your County Commissioner and your school board representative. Let your voice be heard.

Click here to see the backup documentation for these figures