Is School Money A Loan Or A Gift?

Would you accept a $2 Million loan if it was offered to you?
You might not if you knew you couldn't pay it back.
That may be the dilemma the Mobile County School System faces soon.
Mobile Mayor Sam Jones said he wanted to give $2 Million to the school system to make up for losses created by the most recent annexation.
But a Mobile City Council committee this week said it wants to call those checks a loan instead of a gift.
On Tuesday, the full council decided to postpone voting on the issue for at least two weeks.
Tuesday afternoon, Mobile County School Superintendent Dr. Roy Nichols held a news conference and said, "You can't imagine how disappointed I was this morning when I found out that they (council members) were thinking about making that a loan."
And Dr. Nichols also talked about what would happen if the council decides that the $2 Million is a loan.
Nichols said, "If they make us pay that back at some point in time, that means twenty teachers would have to lose their jobs."
After the council's decision, Mayor Jones said council members didn't have details on how he arrived at deciding the money should be a gift.
He said, "We will give them that detailed and specific information over the next week and sit down with them and really try to clear up any question they might have about it."
But school board members may have to answer a difficult question soon.
If the city council says the money is a loan, not a gift, would school board members accept it?
Board Member Ken Megginson said, "I've been pondering that and I'd really have to consider it very seriously."
As for the money, Council Member Connie Hudson said the council is the governing body of the city, not the mayor, and that he shouldn't be making some of the promises that he does.