From Consolidation to "Decoupling" in Memphis, and the Costs of Corporate Reform

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has another no-news story today on questions remaining about how much it will cost to operate nine school systems in Shelby County, rather than one.  Let's see, we have six leafy boutique municipal systems, a Shelby County non-municipal system, the Achievement School District downtown, a high-rolling hedge fund backed charter system with KIPPs and Rocketships, and a local charter system run by black politicians paid off for their support of the Gates fragmentation plan.

The CM article continues to focus on the millions missing when the munis pull out entirely, thus avoiding any potential contact with kids of Memphis, where poverty is now at 27%.

How quickly things go from "consolidation" to "decoupling," which seems to be the new word to describe the fragmentation plan put into effect by the corporate know-nothings who put this "plan" together.

The elephant in the room that the CM still will not talk about is the $212 million that will be lost as almost 20 percent of Memphis students end up in corporate charter schools that collect around 8K per child, plus free rent in public school buildings. The suburban diversion is just that--a feint to keep the public focused away from the segregated chain gangs downtown run by corporate missionaries from Teach for America.

If there is a concern about benefits and pensions for teachers out in the leafy suburbs, why not "excess" those teachers like they were downtown and replace them with TFA temps who have had 20 days of teacher practice? Oh, I forgot, the kids in the suburbs need real teachers.

See the Transition Planning Commission report, linked here.