Memphis selects new school board members, Democrats dominate Nashville, Republicans maintain control in Knox County

Thursday's election results are bringing major changes to school boards representing the state's largest school districts.

Families with children attending Knox County Schools, Metro Nashville Public Schools and Memphis-Shelby County Schools will all see new faces on their respective boards.

Four incumbents to leave Memphis-Shelby County school board

The Memphis-Shelby County School Board is seeing some of the biggest change with two incumbents losing their seats and a total of four new members coming on board.

Board Chair Althea Greene was one of those incumbents, with challenger Natalie McKinney defeating her in District 2. Greene received just 1,671 votes against 2,278 for McKinney. The other incumbent defeat came in District 5 where challenger Sable Otey defeated Mauricio Calvo. Otey received 675 more votes than Calvo’s 2,419.

Existing board members in District 7 and District 4 decided not to run for re-election, leaving their seats open to challengers. Towanna Murphy won District 7 with nearly 1,300 votes and Tamarques Porter won District 4 with more than 2,600 votes. Board Member Stephanie Love was the only incumbent to keep her seat, gaining more than 2,800 votes in the District 3 race.

The election was the first since the board’s decision to select former Detroit schools’ leader Marie Feagins to serve as superintendent amid the district’s ongoing plans to restructure school personnel. One McKinney supporter on X said that they supported her over Greene after Greene banned five activists from board meetings during a long superintendent selection process that left a bad taste in voters’ mouths. McKinney said in a report from Chalkbeat that many voters wanted a change in leadership since then.

“They’re tired of watching their students graduate but not be prepared for postsecondary opportunities,” McKinney told Chalkbeat. “At some point we have to decide who will be responsible for this. If things haven’t worked under that leadership, it’s time to try something new."

Republicans keep Knox County school board majority

Knox County Schools will see three new board members after Thursday’s results, with Republicans managing to maintain a majority of seats in an increasingly politicized school board. The election was the second since Tennessee law changed to allow school board races to be partisan. While Democrats won one seat with Anne Templeton in District 2, who unseated independent incumbent Jennifer Owen, Republicans managed to keep their majority on the board. Other new members on the board include Republican Lauren Morgan in District 5 and Democrat Patricia Fontenot-Ridley in District 3.

“Patricia Fontenot-Ridley became the first Democrat to win District 3 in recent memory. Her hard-fought victory against the local ‘Mom’s for Liberty’ founder [Angie Goethert], backed by pro-voucher special interests, helped secure a fourth pro-public education voice on the School Board!” an X post from the Knox County Democrats said.

The election results come against the backdrop of recent debates at the school board about how to approach banning books with inappropriate material under a new state law that went into effect this year.

Democrats dominate in MNPS school board race

In Nashville, Democrat Robert Taylor won the race for the open District 1 seat on the board, earning 85 percent of the vote over Republican opponent Demytris Savage-Short.

Democratic newcomer Zach Young took the District 3 seat, while Democrat TK Fayne kept the District 5 seat after being temporarily appointed to fill in for former board member Christiane Buggs following her recent resignation. Incumbent Democrat Freda Player won in District 7, while Democrat Abigail Tylor kept her seat for District 9. Those four winners ran unopposed.

Much like Knox County, the MNPS school board has also been recently politicized, following the 2022 law allowing partisan school board races. Democrats have defeated Republicans and independents alike for seats on the school board ever since the board race became partisan.