Shelby County Commissioner Erika Sugarmon’s Effort to Roll Back School Board Election Shake-Up Faces a Setback

Shelby County Commisioner Erika Sugarmon (Photo by Shelby County Commission)

Members of the Shelby County Commission Education Committee vote 6-1 against a proposal by Commissioner Erika Sugarmon that would essentially reverse a recent move to put five school board seats up for vote two years early.

The Shelby County Commission approved that change earlier this year, aligning all nine school board seats on the same 2026 election cycle. The move was a direct response to widespread criticism of the board’s decision to terminate former Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins after less than a year on the job.

School board members filed a lawsuit against the county’s election commission in December to challenge the election shake-up.

During Wednesday’s commission committee meeting, Commissioner Sugarmon proposed a resolution that she believes will resolve the chief complaint of the school board’s lawsuit. It would allow school board members Natalie McKinney, Stephanie Love, Tamarques Porter, Sable Otey, and Towanna Murphy to serve their complete four-year term.

Proposal to Avoid the Lawsuit

Sugarmon framed the proposal as a way to avoid the expense of fighting a lawsuit the county may lose.

“When they start taking someone’s term of office who’s been elected by the people, from four (years) to two, is a slippery slope that I don’t believe we should go down,” said Sugarmon. “Taxpayers’ money will be spent whether the lawsuit is directed at the election commission, ect., it again is taxpayers’ money, and as a taxpayer, as a teacher in the classroom, I would prefer to see our taxpayer dollars go into where it’s needed the most, in the classrooms.”

Multiple commissioners spoke against Sugarmon’s proposal before ultimately voting against it.

That included Commissioners Brandon Morrison and Britney Thornton, who both made the case that the issue was settled last September.

“I don’t understand how we can pass something decidedly and bring it back up over and over and over again. It’s a waste of our time in my view,” said Morrison.

“When it was before us, we had a huge, overwhelming, diverse base of persons that came down to the commission to speak on the item. Bringing it back in this diluted form, and really confusing form, really, to me is a disservice to the amount of people who spent so much time tracking the previous item and coming down to speak on it,” said Thornton.

Wednesday’s committee vote provides a negative recommendation to Sugarmon’s resolution when it advances to the full commission for a vote at Monday’s meeting.