Shelby County Commission Fails to Approve Funding to Fight School Takeover

The Shelby County Commission. (Photo Courtesy Shelby County Commission)

Leaders of Memphis-Shelby County Schools may not have many options to fund a legal challenge to the incoming state takeover.

On Monday, the Shelby County Commission failed to secure enough votes to help the district fund a legal challenge to new legislation that creates a state oversight board with far-reaching authority over the school district.

That board will consist of nine members appointed by state leaders and will control budgeting, contracts, and charter school applications. Both chambers passed legislation creating the board last week, and it’s now awaiting Governor Bill Lee’s signature.

The Vote

The commission voted 7-5 to act against the state’s takeover, but a two-thirds majority is needed to add the measure to the agenda for later voting.

Democratic Commissioner Michael Whaley was absent, and fellow Democratic Commissioner Britney Thornton joined the commission’s Republican members to vote no, leaving the board one vote shy of a two-thirds majority.

The move would have provided $200,000 in funding from county government reserves to help address the takeover. That funding is needed to circumvent a new state law restricting the district from using public money to fund its legal challenge.

Takeover Debate

Before the vote, two residents pleaded with the board during public comments to oppose the upcoming state takeover, saying the move harkens back to the Jim Crow era of the Deep South.

“Accepting the state takeover is the same as Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896,” one speaker said. “Today, we are still suffering from the ramifications of that ridiculous law of Jim Crow. Racism is a learned behavior, but I believe that our Father taught us that love prevails all. We the people, we must make a conscious effort to deflect and abolish those mannerisms that will do harm and that will take the rights and the freedoms away from the citizens of Shelby County.”

Senator Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, took to social media to oppose efforts on the commission to fund a legal challenge. Taylor sponsored the bill that creates the oversight board, and he said its opponents are unwilling to be “brave enough to challenge the status quo.”

“It boggles my mind that when 75 percent of students are not proficient in reading and the state wants to turn around the school district that the Commission would even consider funding the MSCS Board clown cartel when they poll right up there with robocalls,” wrote Taylor on X. “It’s a shame when we’ve worked so hard to #MakeMemphisMatter by getting the legislature to invest in Memphis that local Democrats would work so hard at the expense of teachers, students, their families, and our city.”

What Led To this?

Calls for state intervention into Memphis-Shelby County Schools began last year following the school board’s decision to fire former superintendent Marie Feagins, who had served for less than one year.

The district has also faced criticism for poor academic performance and a preliminary audit released earlier this month that revealed what Jason Mumpower, Tennessee’s Comptroller of the Treasury, called “widespread operational failures.”

The full 329-page preliminary audit is available here.