Memphis-Shelby schools “takeover” starts in Tennessee subcommittee

A House education committee advanced a measure to replace the Memphis Shelby County Schools Board with an administrative committee appointed by the state. (Photo: Karen Pulfer Focht)

A Tennessee House education subcommittee approved a plan Tuesday to create a state-appointed board to run Memphis-Shelby County Schools, a move opponents said would subvert the will of voters.

House Bill 662 sponsored by Republican Rep. Mark White of East Memphis would put a nine-member management group appointed by the state in charge of operating the school district, giving it authority over the locally-elected school board and administrators, who would serve only in an advisory capacity. The new management group would be charged with formulating a comprehensive plan for improvement within 90 days.

“There is a decades-old issue of underperformance,” White told the committee.

All members of the management group would be Shelby County residents with expertise in curriculum, facilities, contracts, budgets and finance and would remain in place for four years, he said.

The subcommittee sent the measure to the full House Education Committee on a 6-2 vote with full support from Republicans.

White denied that the move would be a state takeover and said he believes “intervention” is necessary to enact “drastic changes” because of students’ poor performance. Only 17% of the Memphis-Shelby district’s students are “proficient” in math and 23% are “proficient” in reading, White said, and the district has more than $1 billion in deferred maintenance on buildings.

Memphis resident Ron Redwing, representing the advocacy group Save Our Students, adamantly opposed the legislation, saying the impact on students hasn’t been discussed fully with community residents.

“While we do agree, and there’s no question that the district needs a makeover, but we do not need a takeover,” Redwing told the House Education K-12 Subcommittee.

The bill is modeled after a plan adopted in Houston, Texas, but Redwing said recent reports show the manager of the Houston Independent School District there spent more than $870 million without board oversight or approval.

Redwing admitted Memphis leaders haven’t been engaged enough with the school district but added that opponents of the plan believe it’s “asinine” to replace a locally-elected school board with a management group. He acknowledged Shelby County’s education challenges stem from decades of weak funding and poor access to schools.

Democratic state Rep. Yusuf Hakeem of Chattanooga raised concerns that such a move could lead to privatization of the school district because creation of the management board would move the system out of the hands of voters.

Likewise, Democratic state Rep. Sam McKenzie of Knoxville said the school district should be repaired “within” Shelby County. He pointed out the state is phasing out the Achievement School District, which had a large number of Memphis schools, because it was unable to move many of them out of the bottom 5% statewide for academic performance. Yet over more than 10 years, only six schools in the state-run district made enough gains to come off the “priority” list.

“Why would we create an unelected group of people to destroy the republican form of government in Memphis-Shelby County?” McKenzie said.

White responded by saying the Achievement School District was an “honest attempt” to deal with poor academic performance, yet schools continue to struggle, thus the need for intervention.

The bill also allows lawmakers statewide to seek similar arrangements for school districts, if they have low-performing schools, chronic absenteeism and a vote of no confidence from county commissions. That led Redwing to warn the subcommittee that the state could appoint management boards for their districts as well.