They do a fairly thankless job for very little money, get a lot of flak, sit patiently through some interminable meetings, and next week will probably cast the most important vote of their lives.
The nine members of the Memphis City Schools Board of Education, barring a surprise development, will vote December 20th on whether to abolish the city school system’s charter, effectively merging it with the Shelby County school system. Approval would be subject to a Memphis referendum in 2011.
The implications are far-reaching, which is another way of saying that nobody, definitely including me, knows exactly what they are. My best guess is the answer will involve lawyers. The author of the surrender resolution, Martavius Jones, says it is too close to call at this point.
So who are these board members? Well, they’re six women and three men with a lot of higher education and deep roots in Memphis and the city school system as students, parents, and employees. Some have political aspirations, some don’t. They earn $5,000 a year plus $1,499 in expenses, or about one-fifth as much as members of the Memphis City Council and Shelby County Commission. Their only employee is Superintendent Dr. Kriner Cash. They meet every other week and the meetings sometimes last five hours. They don’t have funding authority — that’s the city council’s job — but they do present a budget.
Here’s a closer look.
