(The Center Square) – The Tennessee House of Representatives approved a bill that will give the state control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools hours after it passed the Senate on Wednesday.
House Bill 662/Senate Bill 714 creates a board of managers to oversee the school district for four years. The Memphis-Shelby County Schools Board of Education will be required to submit its budget, which totaled $1.9 billlion this year, to the oversight board, which can also fire district employees and nix board actions.
The nine-member board will consist of Shelby County residents, except for one, according to the bill. If the school district does not meet certain goals within four years, another board will be appointed for two years.
The oversight board will be established as soon as Gov. Bill Lee signs the bill.
House Democrats presented a different plan that removed two of the six criteria in the original bill that addressed the ongoing audit of the schools and the turnover in the superintendent’s position. It included the four academic benchmarks that addressed student proficiency in math and English language arts, absenteeism and low-performing schools.
A district that did not meet three out of the four criteria would be placed under an advisory board under the Democrat plan. The district would fall under the Republican plan if it failed to improve in at least one of the four areas.
“We know that Memphis and Shelby County Schools need an intervention, I think we all agree with that,” said Memphis Republican Antonio Parkinson, who presented the plan. “I think where we may disagree or differ a little bit is how that intervention looks.”
The Democrat proposal failed.
The bill applies to all Tennessee school districts, but Memphis-Shelby County Schools is the only one that doesn’t meet the six performance measures, said Memphis Republican Mark White, who chairs the House Education Committee. Six school districts do not meet three out of the six, he said.
“For too long, administrative mismanagement and inefficiency have undermined student success in Memphis. That ends now,” White said. “This oversight board is a necessary step to restore accountability to MSCS and ensure children in our community have the resources and support they so desperately need and deserve.”
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 Memphis-Shelby County School Board passed a resolution on April 21 to hire outside counsel to sue the state over the bill.
But the board’s resolution could be a moot point due to a law signed by Lee on Tuesday.
Senate Bill 712 bars a school district or public charter school from using state funds for legal actions challenging accountability measures. Lee signed it before the board meeting, according to Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis.
