Memphis-Shelby County School Board puts division over superintendent aside to oppose state intervention

Members of the Memphis-Shelby County School Board (Photo by Memphis-Shelby County Schools)

Members of the Memphis-Shelby County School Board offered a frequently defiant response Tuesday night to a move by the Tennessee General Assembly to intervene in its authority.

House Education Chair Mark White, R-Memphis, is proposing the Tennessee Public School Accountability Act to give the governor, speaker of the house, and lieutenant governor the power to jointly create a board of managers for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. This board would essentially supersede the district’s existing school board and director of schools.

Tuesday morning White explained to members of the House K-12 Subcommittee that he’s reluctantly proposing the legislation following years of underperformance and the school board’s controversial January decision to fire former Superintendent Dr. Marie Feagins after less than a year on the job.

“We have such tremendous economic opportunity in our community. As you know, Blue Oval City moved to West Tennessee. FedEx has been there for 50 years.  We have xAI which has come to our city, artificial intelligence, and they are committed and already started investing $60 billion in our community. Which is bringing tech companies into our community,” said White. “But we’ve got to address a decades old issue in our community and that is our local school system is not performing to the current opportunities that are demanding it. “

School board members responded during a work session hours later by unanimously providing support for a resolution opposing White’s legislation and calling on elected officials representing Memphis, Shelby County ,and other school boards across the state to oppose it.

“There is no part of me that tells me that Mark White and that whole group cares anything about Memphis and Shelby County. So, you can’t come to my house making rules for me,” said District 6 Board Member Keith Williams. “You can not come to Memphis, because we are the black part of this state, and take advantage of the citizens here.  You’ve done it for years.”

Williams was among the six board members who voted to terminate Feagins including Board Chair Joyce Dorse Coleman, Natalie McKinney, Sable Otey, Towanna Murphy, and Stephanie Love.

Several defended that decision Tuesday night including Murphy, who claimed state lawmakers used the Shelby County Commission vote of no-confidence in the school board as an excuse to start efforts at state intervention in the district.

“Where we are now, it is stripping our power away from us. Voter nullification is where we are in what they are trying to do. We were well within our rights, and I think they overstepped their boundaries, but what happened with them that pushed them over the top was the county commissioners voting for us being incompetent. That was their “in” to say that these (school board members) don’t know how to do their job, but we were well within our rights,” said Murphy.

Multiple board members made a similar case that state lawmakers have long wanted to intervene in Memphis-Shelby County Schools. That included multiple board members who voted to keep Feagins on the job.

“We kind of handed them what they wanted on a silver platter.  Yes, this has been a concern where Representative White has sought to intervene on this school district for quite some time but at the time in which this was taking place, MSCS was not on their radar at that time, they were focused on their vouchers,” said District 1 Board Member Michelle Robinson McKissack. “I think it’s a very rash decision what is being attempted in Nashville by legislators there and I’m disappointed by the vote taken today in subcommittee and what is surely to come, but at the same time as I’ve stated before, this is just not good for our community for voters to have their voice squashed out.”

Board members will vote on the resolution and a related one that would commit to working with the Shelby County Commission to establish a working group to strengthen accountability measures and transparency in the district.

The Senate Education Committee is scheduled to debate White’s legislation this afternoon.