WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): State officials came out with a recommendation for summer reading this week: the results of a massive financial audit of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Here's State Comptroller Jason Mumpower.
JASON MUMPOWER: I promise you, if you get into this report, especially the forensic report that we're releasing today, and you start reading, you're going to find it so outrageous, it's going to be more interesting than whatever beach read you're using by the pool this year. This report reads like a novel and you will be both flabbergasted and disappointed in what's been going on in the Memphis-Shelby County School System.
BLANK: A compelling review, but does the report live up to its hype? With us again is political analyst Otis Sanford. Welcome back.
OTIS SANFORD: Thank you, Chris. Good to be back with you.
BLAN: Otis, this is not a huge surprise, and the early findings were what made the case for the state takeover of the school district. If we strip away the political hyperbole, how does this report expand on what we already know, and what does it tell us about Memphis-Shelby County Schools right now?
SANFORD: Well, first of all, I think you used the correct word here, hyperbole. But that said, Chris, there are some troubling findings in this final report. Overall, what it tells us is that with a budget of nearly $2 billion that you'll likely find a lot of fraud, waste, and abuse just going to happen. But in this case, they found some very troubling issues around contracting that really, really do need to be addressed. And so for that reason, the audit has been fairly helpful in uncovering those things.
BLANK: And there is pretty much agreement that the school district has problems in terms of both management and academics. But Republicans and Democrats do have big differences over what the audit really says. So help us understand why Democrats think this can be handled locally, and why Republicans think that their plan of a nine-member oversight board is the only solution here?
SANFORD: I think you're going to hear from Democrats that the biggest issues here were spotted by the district. The biggest problem here was this almost $54 million contract for custodial work by an outfit called ServiceMaster Clean, I think is the name of it. That has some serious issues here. But the Democrats are going to say that the district discovered this and when a whistleblower alleged kickbacks, they reported that to the FBI. The Republicans just simply do not have any confidence in local governance of the school system. And they believe that this oversight board or takeover board is the only way to go.
BLANK: Well, on another topic, the Memphis Safe Task Force is once again under scrutiny for a fatal shooting last weekend. National Guard troops killed a man Downtown, allegedly for pointing a gun at them. The public is still waiting on the details or some videos. But in the meantime, the shooting has revived questions about the role of the National Guard in Memphis. Are they security guards? Are they police? Otis, when it comes to the National Guard in relation to all the other law enforcement agencies, why do mission specifics matter so much?
SANFORD: Well, it's because of what was said when they were deployed here, Chris. Gov. Bill Lee, he was very specific early on that said that they would just be here as assisting the police. They would not be armed, and it was just part of the overall Memphis Safe Task Force. And early on, there were few issues related to the National Guard. The biggest issues were with ICE agents and Border Patrol agents. At some point, the National Guard started going armed. And so there are some valid questions here about what is the role of the National Guard, how has it evolved over time to the point where they are shooting people in chase situations like this?
BLANK: You know, Gov. Bill Lee is solely responsible for the troops being here, but if you've seen some community forums lately, there's a lot of anger being channeled at local leaders, you know, our local politicians. What should they be doing or saying right now, if they can do or say anything at all?
SANFORD: A lot of this anger is aimed at the Mayor Paul Young, let's just be honest about it. And he's really in a tough spot here trying to navigate this issue. Doesn't want to get crossways with state officials, but he also understands there's a lot of discontent among some Memphians about the heavy-handedness. There's been several shootings, fatal shootings, over the last week or two.
I think where Mayor Young is concerned, he has to show that he cares about this. Now, you do hear from Democratic state lawmakers here locally who are raising questions about the heavy-handedness, who are saying that a lot of it is excessive. And so I think that's all they can do right now.
The Safe Task Force is here, has been here since September, and so there'll just be continued dissension and hard feelings as a result of it all.
