Truth about false statments in May 19, 2010 Commercial Appeal article: "MCS lies about funding"

This posting of "The Complete Story" is to provide you with the facts about false statements from Memphis City Council Chairman Harold Collins regarding recent reductions that the MCS Board of Commissioners approved as part of the revised 2010 - 2011 Operating Budget.

On Wednesday, May, 19, 2010, the Commercial Appeal published an article entitled "Collins: MCS lies about funding". In the article, Councilman Harold Collins is quoted as saying "it is unfortunate that MCS has lied to you and the citizens of Memphis regarding their budget and layoffs." Councilman Collins was replying to an email he and other council members received from a teacher's assistant, who wrote to the council to ask that they reconsider their position on withholding $57 million, which is currently in litigation. Collins went on say "MCS has decided they are laying off workers because they chose to do so, not because the city owes them money."

MCS General Counsel Dorsey Hopson also provided comments for the Commercial Appeal's article. In addition to the following statement:

"Councilman Collins alleges that the City has fully funded the District and that any cuts in the District's budget are a result of the Board's actions and are unrelated to the Council's decisions. This statement is false and irresponsible. Until last month, the City owed the District $107 million dollars for the 2008-2009 and 2009-2010 school years. To date, the Council has only authorized the City to pay the District $20 million dollars of this debt. Thus, the City still owes the District $87 million dollars for the last two fiscal years. Obviously, if the District had received the $107 million dollars over the last two years, it would not be in as precarious of a financial situation as it is in now. It appears that the councilman's recent statements were made to confuse the issues and to deflect attention away from the councils decision not to fully fund the school district in the 2008-2009 school year. The school board has repeatedly tried to engage the council in meaningful discussions to address the budget shortfall caused by the councils illegal actions in June 2008."

To read the entire Commercial Appeal article please click on the following link:http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2010/may/19/collins-mcs-lies-about-funding/?print=1