The unified Shelby County Schools board
With two votes of the unified school board Monday, Shelby County Schools potentially became responsible for tens of thousands of dollars in new salary expenses, worrisome for a district funded at a lower per-pupil level than the city schools.
SCS and Memphis City Schools, by court order, are to operate independently until the merger is complete in 2013. But the unified board will oversee both entities.
Besides immediately covering $4,200 in salaries for the seven new appointed board members, SCS general counsel Valerie Speakman could be in for a $37,000 raise plus other benefits after the board locked horns over differences in organizational structure between the two systems and how it could affect legal advice the board receives.
Speakman, the county schools’ longtime legal counsel, reports to the superintendent, who is hired by the board. She is paid $152,000.
On the city schools side, general counsel Dorsey Hopson reported to the former Memphis City Schools Board of Education. He is paid $189,000.
When board members questioned the propriety of relying on legal advice from an employee who reports to another employee (the superintendent), it voted to have both attorneys report to the school board.
“Shelby County Schools will be looking to raise Speakman (salary) to (Hopson’s) level,” said David Pickler, former chairman of the Shelby County school board.
“This of course goes to a bigger issue; she will then be making almost as much the superintendent,” Pickler said, illustrating the pay imbalances he says the merger will create. SCS Supt. John Aitken is paid $197,000.
The issue was brought up by board member Vanecia Kimbrow, a lawyer herself, who said it was “totally improper” for the board’s legal counsel to be supervised by the superintendent hired by the board who may have an agenda separate from the school board’s.
While Kimbrow said she would agree to the board hiring outside legal counsel to advise the superintendents, “in no instance will I support Ms. Speakman being counsel and reporting to Mr. Aitken or Mr. Cash.”
But without knowing the variance in their workloads of the two lawyers, Pickler said the board did not have enough information to make the decision.
Former MCS board chairman Martavius Jones agreed.
“I thought it was premature to arbitrarily change the reporting,” he said. “If you look at the volume of work the general counsel of Memphis City Schools does versus that of Shelby County Schools, you are not making an apples to apples comparison.
“I would ask how many lawsuits Shelby County has to defend versus Memphis City Schools.”
MCS has an in-house legal staff with three lawyers.
SCS relies on Speakman for its advice, although Pickler said the board had access to an outside law firm if members needed it.
However, SCS board member Diane George said she did not have access to the firm.
“I haven’t been able to pick up the phone and call that law firm,” she said. “My experience has been, it is exactly right, it is a conflict of interest. We need to have someone that is going to be the legal counsel to this board.”
Pickler created the agenda for Monday’s meeting, which included time to discuss how staff from each district would support the board, but no specific item for legal counsel.
He said the SCS is being burdened with extra expense when it receives less money per pupil than MCS.
In 2010, SCS received $8,439 per pupil; MCS received $10,767, plus the city’s contribution of $78 million.
The extra state and federal dollars for MCS are based on a formula tied to the numbers of children in poverty and special-education services.
On Tuesday, newly elected board chairman Billy Orgel said the board will address salary disparities in future meetings, including what is to happen if the burden falls more heavily on one district.
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