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In their rush to shoehorn praise for Mayor Solomon into this editorial, the Beacon staff trample over basic facts.

The idea to withdraw WISE pension money to balance the FY19 school budget was illegal (meaning it violated IRS laws), according to an attorney who reviewed the plan, and it would have cost several million more dollars to pay back taxes for every year that it originally had tax-exempt status.

It wasn't just "a very bad idea," nor should Solomon get any credit for what is, essentially, flip-flopping on it once the school committee made clear they would not go ahead with it.

And he doesn't get any points for getting out of the council's way after so many weeks of bumbling from one PR disaster to another that reflected as badly on them as it did on him.

Maybe if it hadn't been for all of Solomon's misguided criticism of the school department (while he presided over a city budget that included two huge tax increases and still hasn't released last year's audit), the city council would have shown some courage in the first place and responsibly funded the school department instead of dragging the city through another several months of humiliating headlines.

And let's not forget the fine print that could come back to bite them: The school department has to "repay" the city $1 million a year for the $4 million that balances the FY19 budget, and the city council and mayor are forcing themselves into the school budget process.

Its just more "Look over there!" behavior to distract people from their mismanagement of the city budget -- and, at least from what I've seen on this website and social media, it's not working.