School leaders say it’ll take $1 billion to educate Memphis students

If asking for more money to add services is better than asking for more money to avoid cutting services, then Shelby County Schools is in a good place.

Superintendent Dorsey Hopson wants to use money from an expected county surplus and money from the school’s reserves to help the district pay for services like counseling and more security. His proposed operating budget for next year is $1 billion.

He’d like the county to pay the district $13 million from its expected surplus, and he’d use $25 million in the district’s reserve to help complete his spending proposal for next school year. The budget is up from $985 million last year. This is the second year in a row that the Memphis district is not facing severe cuts.

“We’re actually excited about the budget this year,” Hopson said. “To move from deep deficits to the second year of investments is huge.”

Included in the budget: $7 million for teacher pay raises, $4.3 million to hire 35 school counselors, $2 million to hire 30 school resource officers, and $800,000 to hire 10 more behavior specialists.

It also sets aside $2.4 million to add seats to the district’s preschool program, and $8 million to revamp its career and technical education programs, and to add more Advanced Placement, dual enrollment, and honors courses.

For more information on these budget items, read our primer.

The district and a coalition of community members and organizations successfully lobbied the county commission two years ago for a $22 million boost in funding to prevent a slew of cuts. But this year, Hopson’s request could face some opposition from county commissioners and county Mayor Mark Luttrell. He wants to see the county use an expected surplus — which could be as much as $25 million — to lower property taxes.

The county budget will be the last one Luttrell oversees before another mayor is elected this summer. In Luttrell’s final State of the County address in February, he said “even with an increase of local funding, we have yet to experience the improved outcomes that we so desperately desire.”

The presentation to school board members Wednesday afternoon gave details of what the district would look like if it had all the money it needed to provide adequate support and resources for every student — most of whom come from low-income families. Only some of that money, $38 million, was included in the budget proposal.

Hopson’s team estimated the total cost would add $82 million more to his proposed budget.

For years, school board members have pushed Hopson to think through those details so they can lobby the county and state for more funding. Shelby County Schools, among other Tennessee districts, is in the midst of a lawsuit against the state, saying it doesn’t adequately pay for its own funding formula, shorting them $100 million every year.

Part of the rosier revenue picture for Shelby County Schools comes from a slight uptick in enrollment this year after several years of free fall and Gov. Bill Haslam’s planned increase in education spending. That produced about $15 million more in state funding compared to last year, said Chief of Finance Lin Johnson.

The public can hear more about the budget during the board’s work session Tuesday, April 17. The school board is expected to vote Tuesday, April 24 when there will also be a public comment period. The budget would then go to county commissioners for approval.