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.
Tennessee Lookout reports on the lawsuit:
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.”
