Lawmakers to Decide Next Week on Memphis Shelby County Schools Intervention
The Memphis-Shelby County Schools logo (Courtesy Memphis-Shelby County Schools)
The long-standing question of whether state lawmakers will intervene to reduce the power of Memphis-Shelby County School leaders could finally be decided next week.
Two of the main supporters of intervention, Representative Mark White, R- Memphis, and Senator Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, took to social media on Friday to discuss their plans in a video.
“Thank you for all the hard work to getting it through the Senate,” White said in the video. “And now we'll meet together, as you just mentioned, hopefully next Monday, and get this done.”
Conference Committee Appointed
The video follows Thursday’s decision by leaders of the State House and Senate to appoint a committee to work out the differences between each chamber’s plans for the district.
The members include Representatives White, Scott Cepicky, R-Culleoka, Debra Moody, R-Covington, Antonio Parkinson, D-Memphis, and William Slater, R-Gallatin and Senators Taylor, Dawn White, R-Murfreesboro; Bill Powers, R-Clarksville; Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis; and Adam Lowe, R-Calhoun.
The committee will meet on Monday.
Two Versions of the Bill
Last year, members of the House and Senate each passed their own versions of intervention legislation, but the bills stalled because the chambers couldn’t iron out the differences.
The House version would create a 9-member board of managers to oversee the district. The superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools and the school board would largely be relegated to advisory roles and would not be able to make key decisions or approve a budget without the board’s sign-off.
The Senate plan would allow the commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Education to intervene in “challenged school districts” with 50 percent economically disadvantaged students, which also do not meet state performance standards in math and English language arts (ELA). Under the bill, the commissioner would be able to recommend the removal of the director of schools and some or all school board members.
Supporters in both chambers have argued that state intervention is needed because of years of underperformance, including the most recently released School Letter Grades, where dozens of schools in the district received a D or F.
Lawmakers have also referenced last year’s decision by the Memphis-Shelby County School Board to fire former Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins after less than a year on the job, and the district has faced criticism following a state audit that alleged widespread waste, fraud, and financial abuse over decades.
Democrats in the Tennessee General Assembly largely opposed both state intervention plans last year, including those from Memphis.
