State oversight board would control Memphis Shelby schools budget, contracts

A state-appointed committee with wide-ranging control over Memphis Shelby County Schools would have contracting authority over the district’s $2 billion budget and could have a member from outside Shelby County, under a report adopted Monday.

A House-Senate panel of eight Republicans and two Democrats adopted a plan requiring a state “takeover” of school districts statewide if they fall into four of six areas ranging from poor student and school performance to financial mismanagement. The report is now attached to House bill 622/Senate Bill 714.

Despite affecting school districts across Tennessee, the report focuses on Memphis Shelby County Schools, which has been plagued by poor performance, in spite of recent test score improvements, and is going through a $7.6 million forensic audit characterized as the “worst” some officials have ever seen.

Rep. Antonio Parkinson and Sen. Raumesh Akbari, both Memphis Democrats, were the only two lawmakers to oppose the report, which goes next to the full House and Senate for a vote. Akbari agreed the school district needs reforms and extra support but called the new plan “heavy-handed.”

Parkinson said the report clearly targets Memphis Shelby County Schools, because it is the only district in the state going through a forensic audit, one of the requirements for a “takeover.”

Under the report, the governor would make four appointments, and the House and Senate speakers would make two appointments each to the oversight board, which would stay in place for four years, before being renewed for two years. 

Board members were to come from Shelby under separate versions of the bill that passed last year but couldn’t muster enough support to become law. Shortly before a final vote, though, Republican Rep. Mark White of Memphis, the bill’s sponsor, passed an amendment allowing the House speaker to appoint a member from outside Shelby County to serve on the oversight committee. 

Akbari said the amendment appears to have been written for one person.

White said it is designed for an out-of-county resident who could help the board deal with a specific problem. Afterward he said he’s received no indication that House Speaker Cameron Sexton would place himself on the board, much as he did with the East Bank Development Authority in Nashville.

“This is a process … we’ve been working on for two years, and this is what’s before us now, and I think it’s a good move that we can get in and address deficiencies” that have taken place for 60 years, White said.

Similarly, Republican Sen. Brent Taylor of Shelby County, who is sponsoring the bill, pushed an amendment through the panel specifying that the oversight board can hire a contractor for a yearly needs assessment and turnaround plan and create policies and timeline requirements for contracts it ultimately approves. The committee also amended the report to deal with appointment of a chairman to the oversight board.

Under the rewritten measure, the state would be able to set up oversight boards with authority over locally-elected school boards in any district that falls short in four of six areas dealing with academic performance, chronic absenteeism, low school grades, priority school status, financial mismanagement and leadership instability.

Several other school districts would fall into three of the categories, but Memphis Shelby is the only one that falls short in all six areas designated by the bill’s sponsors, including financial mismanagement and leadership. 

Oversight board members could be removed at any time without a reason, meaning the next governor could appoint four new members, as could new House and Senate speakers. The board will be required to comply with open meetings and public records laws but would be allowed to hold meetings electronically and appoint an executive committee to act on its behalf.

The board’s needs assessment will hit on everything from teacher qualifications to teacher and principal effectiveness, class sizes, instructional materials and curriculum, as well as parent involvement. 

A reserve fund with $500,000 to $1 million would be set up to support oversight board operations. But pay and benefits for nine members and three staff members might have to be funded by the school district, potentially pushing administrative costs past half a million dollars a year.

The board would control the school district’s budget, submitted by the locally-election board, and would approve any contract exceeding $50,000, in addition to taking on authority over district properties and approving charter school applications.

It could fire and hire school district directors and, without cause, terminate any system employee, in addition to overruling school board decisions to open, close or consolidate schools.

The report also prevents the elected school board from filing a lawsuit against the oversight board.

“This is a sweeping restriction that forecloses the locally elected board from using public funds to mount legal challenges to oversight board decisions, even if those decisions are alleged to exceed the board’s authorities,” the report says.
Policy Brief SB714 HB662