But district faces continued pressure, scrutiny from meddling lawmakers
Most of Tennessee’s legislators are not from Memphis/Shelby County, but that hasn’t stopped a cadre of them from attempting to tell the elected leaders of Memphis how to run their schools.
As the General Assembly ended its business this year, legislation that would have allowed the state to takeover Memphis-Shelby County Schools stalled:
Memphis-Shelby County Schools narrowly avoided legislation that would have expanded state control over its elected school board and budget. But lawmakers intend to bring that bill back — and other efforts to audit the district and potentially change the timing of its school board elections have advanced.
Though versions of state intervention bills passed in the House and Senate, the chambers could not reconcile them before the Tennessee General Assembly adjourned on Tuesday. Each bill called for a state-appointed oversight board whose members would be paid by the school district, but the two versions differed on what powers it gave that board, and the thresholds that would trigger state intervention.
