Who's In Charge?

Remember all the hand-wringing, the wailing, the cries of "What about the children?" when the City Schools were looking at cutting the budget earlier this year? We were told over and over that all the fat had been cut, it was a bare bones budget and there was no waste at all.

Well, not so much. Seems the Memphis City Schools has spent something around $4 million since 2001 without knowing it. Told that nearly $1 million a year for a special school program has been buried down inside a budget request for "professional service expenses" School Board President Wanda Halbert said, ""I don't remember any of that. I don't know what's going on."

It's good to know that the folks charged with watching our money and seeing it goes to good use "don't know what's going on." This follows the mystery shipment of, and threatened lawsuit over, nearly $1 million of cleaning supplies. Halbert again said she didn't know what was going on.

How are we supposed to believe and trust these folks who say the budget is as tight as it can be, when all kinds of misspending and apparent malfeasance is going on? I guess we should be glad Halbert is at least honest in her ignorance, unlike a certain City Mayor, who keeps it all hidden away period. I feel sorry for the person who takes office after him, because they will be forced to deal with daily revelations of what's been going on down at City Hall.

Anyway, can't some news organisation sit down with a copy of the City Schools budget and do some searching to see what else is buried away?