The Shelby County government is challenging the state’s takeover of public schools in Memphis. A new state law passed this year created a state-appointed “Board of Managers” to oversee the Shelby County School Board.
This unelected board, appointed by politicians from Nashville, has the power to usurp decisions made by the elected leaders of the Shelby County Schools.
The Shelby County government sued Tennessee lawmakers in federal court last week, hoping to regain local control over the board that oversees the Memphis school system.
State lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year disbanding the locally elected Memphis Shelby County Schools board and replacing it with a nine-member one, all appointed by Republican leaders in the state.
Lawyers for Shelby County argued in their complaint that the law “dismantles” the structure that allows “110,000 children and their families to have a voice in the most consequential local decisions affecting their daily lives.”
Williamson County’s Director of Schools, Jason Golden, informed the school board he’s accepted an Associate Director role at the Franklin Special School District.
@WCSedu Board has received notice from Superintendent Golden that he has decided to step down as Superintendent of Williamson County Schools. He has accepted a position as Assoc Dir for Finance, Administration and Legal Services within the Franklin Special School District.
The toxic elements and individuals that refused to support our Superintendent, despite leading the WCS district to the highest academic achievement and growth scores in the state, now own whatever comes next.
A new report ranks state public school systems by racial and economic segregation and finds Tennessee has the most racially segregated schools in the South.
Tennessee public schools are among the most racially segregated in the nation, according to a new study.
Researchers from Stanford and the University of California, Los Angeles, found that Tennessee has the most segregated schools in the South and ranks number six nationally, trailing behind New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Ohio.
The “States of Segregation” report uses data from the 2023-24 school year and measures the levels of racial segregation between white students and their Black, Hispanic, and Native American peers. Each state has an index number ranging between zero and one – with zero meaning no segregation and one indicating that the school is completely segregated, with all the students being the same race. Tennessee’s number is .46.
Jeff Yass is one of the richest people in the world. He is the richest person in Pennsylvania. He is #25 or #27 on Bloomberg’s Billionaires’ Index, depending on which day you check.
Yass is known for his investment in TikTok’s parent company and for being a major financial supporter of President Donald Trump’s 2024 campaign.
He’s now the largest single contributor in Tennessee’s gubernatorial election after donating $1 million to Team Tennessee, a PAC that is backing U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn’s bid for the top job.
A group that supports a statewide program of private school discount coupons for wealthy families (school vouchers) is among the top political spenders in Tennessee.
Over the next two years, the School Freedom Fund spent $4.5 million across Tennessee’s 2024 legislative cycle and a special election for a Middle Tennessee Congressional seat in 2025. The group won five of the six primaries it spent on, signaling the value of its backing in winning competitive Republican elections.
The group spent nearly twice as much as the Tennessee Republican Caucus did in the 2024 cycle. Following that, state lawmakers passed Lee’s original 2024 statewide plan by a five-vote margin in the state House.
School closures have also been an early move for state-selected leadership in Houston and Fort Worth, the sites of two recent state takeovers that Tennessee proponents have often said they want to use as models for MSCS.
The Wilberforce Academy of Knoxville sued the school board last year after the local district asked it to affirm it planned to open a non-religious school, per state law.
Of note:
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti declined to intervene in the lawsuit earlier this year, months after he published a legal opinion that argued there was “no compelling interest” in excluding religious charter schools from participating in a “public benefit.”
Skrmetti’s office is also currently paying Wilberforce’s main attorney $400 per hour in a separate case to help Tennessee defend its criminal abortion ban against ongoing legal challenges.
As Gov. Bill Lee’s 8 years in office come to an end, his legacy is clear: Support for public schools is near the bottom in the nation, while efforts to privatize get top billing.
While the most recent analysis of public school funding places Tennessee last in the nation, a report released this week by the Network for Public Education (NPE) gives the Volunteer State a grade of “F” for its support (lack of support?) for public schools.
In a press release, NPE says:
Only two states — Nebraska and Vermont — earned an A. Seventeen states received an F, failing to meet even 40% of the points allocated across NPE’s 39 standards. Florida ranked last, scoring 14 out of 102 possible points, with Arizona close behind. “The data confirm what we have long suspected: privatization and disinvestment go hand in hand,” said Carol Burris, Executive Director of NPE and the report’s author. “These are not states struggling with limited resources. They have made deliberate choices to abandon their public schools while directing billions in public dollars to private alternatives.”
Relative to Tennessee, the report notes:
Florida lost every possible point in our school funding category, ranking in the bottom decile for funding level, distribution, and effort, while also paying among the lowest teacher salaries in the country when adjusted for cost of living. Arizona, Idaho, North Carolina, and Tennessee each earned just two of sixteen possible funding points.
The 17 states that earned an F for their lack of support of public schools, students, and educators while embracing privatization were (lowest to highest) Florida, Arizona, North Carolina, Louisiana, Indiana, Oklahoma, Idaho, Arkansas, Alabama, Utah, Texas, Tennessee, Georgia, Ohio, Nevada, South Carolina, and Missouri.
About the report:
The report draws on original research in addition to research from other organizations — including the Education Law Center, the Learning Policy Institute, and EdChoice — to deliver a comprehensive assessment of public education and privatization across 39 distinct factors. These include teacher-to-student ratios, teacher satisfaction, school funding levels, and the degree to which laws governing vouchers, charter schools, and homeschools protect both taxpayers and students.
More than 200 Burrus Elementary students, along with others at Knox Doss Middle, are being reassigned to new schools after the Sumner County school board approved rezoning this week.
Most affected families in the Hendersonville area will start the next school year at Beech Elementary and TW Hunter Middle.
