(The Center Square) – A Tennessee joint conference committee advanced a bill Monday that would allow the state to oversee schools that don’t meet certain criteria.
Senate Bill 714 would allow state officials to appoint a nine-member oversight board for school districts that meet four out of six objectives outlined in the bill. The board would be in place for four years.
Four of the objectives relate to performance on standardized tests, absenteeism and the number of schools with a D or F grade from the Department of Education.
The other objectives relate to financial management and leadership.
While the bill does not specifically name Memphis Shelby County Schools, lawmakers acknowledged it would apply to the district, which fails to meet the criteria.
Only 25% of students from that district who graduate can read at grade level, according to Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis.
“Look, if we wanted to target Shelby County, there’s a number of ways we could have done that,” Taylor said. “We didn’t, though there’s a lot of discussion about Shelby County and the fact that only 25% of the kids that are graduating can read at grade level. The fact that that may have brought this issue to my attention or Rep. White’s attention, we have an obligation to look at the entire state and what other school districts are out there that perhaps need some type of intervention and that’s why we developed this criterion.”
The House version of the bill is sponsored by Memphis Republican Mark White.
In a social media post on Monday morning, Taylor called the bills the “Senate and House Memphis-Shelby County Schools intervention bills.”
“There are just a few minor details to align so we can pass the final legislation and begin fixing Memphis’ education system,” Taylor said in the post.
Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, said she agrees that the school district needs some level of intervention, but Senate Bill 714 was “written very surgically” so that it only applies to Memphis Shelby County Schools.
“There needs to be experts that come in and completely restructure the financial systems, the human resources systems and the technology and IT systems,” Akbari said. “But I think this is just a little too heavy heanded hwen you talk about completely removing local control in a meaningful way. There is no ability for the voter, or constituent, the parent, the family to have any recourse because what is proposed are people being appointed by the state legislature who do not reside in that county and by the governor.”
Akbari proposed an amendment that would end oversight before the four-year term outlined in the bill if the school district achieves the bill’s requirements. The amendment was defeated.
The school district is undergoing an audit, which has already revealed problems, according to the comptroller of the Treasury’s office.
With only 25% of the contract reviews complete, $1.1 million in disbursements have been categorized as waste or fraud, the comptroller said in an April 1 news conference. The issues ranged from what auditors called “significant and recurring weaknesses in internal controls” to issues with record management and procurement practices.
The bill goes to the full House and Senate for consideration.
