Memphis School Fragmentation Plan Shifts Hundreds of Million to Corporate Charters – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER

Memphis School Fragmentation Plan Shifts Hundreds of Million to Corporate Charters – @ THE CHALK FACE knows SCHOOLS MATTER:

Memphis School Fragmentation Plan Shifts Hundreds of Million to Corporate Charters

by Jim Horn

Just weeks away now from the official beginning of the Memphis/Shelby County schools fragmentation/privatization plan, Memphis citizens continue to be misled by the Memphis Commercial Appeal, which does not even mention charter schools when discussing the gaping hole in the merged school budget plan.

The closest the local newspaper of record has come so far to acknowledging the charter money drain was today in a big story on “unified school funding,” where reporters had this:

. . .the schools will go before the Shelby County Commission’s budget committee to try and persuade commissioners to cover much of that gap, which is related to declines in enrollment . . .

The loss of revenue, however, cannot be ignored forever, especially when the facts are available in the Shelby County Transition Commission’s 200+ page document that can be downloaded here.

The reason that austerity has come to Memphis public schools has everything to