Shelby County Mayor Lee Harris takes the plan to shift nearly $34 million in county funding to the building of a new high school in Frayser to Shelby County commissioners Wednesday, Dec. 11.

“It’s not necessarily going to be easy,” Harris said last week of the commission’s decision. “We will see. We don’t want to take anything for granted when we go to the commission.”

The resolution commissioners will discuss in committee sessions Wednesday would move $33.9 million in county capital funding for the Frayser project.

As prices double for two new high schools, questions arise, too

Commissioners are certain to have questions about the arrangement and the complicated path to financing not only the Frayser school but also a new high school in Cordova that no longer has a development site.

If approved by the Shelby County Board of Commissioners at its Dec. 16 meeting, the amendment would bring the county’s total funding for the Frayser school to $112 million throughout several years.

For the current fiscal year, the amendment would mean a total of $53.7 million for the school — the $19.8 million already in the capital-budget line item plus the $33.9 million in the amendment.

The additional funding for that would come out of the $34.4 million line item now in the county’s capital budget for the new Cordova school in the current fiscal year. It would leave a balance of $500,000 in the item for the Cordova school, known formally as Memphis-Shelby County Schools’ “East Region High School.”

Harris talked about the funding support push during a Zoom session last week with County Commissioners Charlie Caswell and Mickell Lowery as well as Memphis-Shelby County Schools board member Stephanie Love. Harris said the money would be restored for the Cordova school in future fiscal years.

“We will shift some of that to Frayser and then add additional resources for future years for new Cordova to make sure they are whole,” Harris said, adding the Cordova school will “have the same amount of money in the five-year plan.”

“It’s just a rearrangement of capital priorities,” he said.

The announcement of the proposed shift earlier this month included the backing of Shelby County Commission Chairman Michael Whaley along with Caswell and Lowery.

The Memphis City Council denied a land-use permit for the school site on Fischer Steel Road on the northern border of Shelby Farms Park at its Nov. 13 meeting. 

“The project that has the most momentum now is the new Frayser high school, and it is sorely needed now,” Harris said last week.

From MLK Prep to Trezevant and back again

MSCS’ estimated cost for both school projects was almost double the county administration’s estimate.

Harris said the school district’s cost estimates were “bloated,” and he immediately began talks with MSCS leaders to get the prices down.

The MSCS estimate of the cost of the Frayser school was $173 million in March for a school with a capacity of 2,000 students. It included some items that normally aren’t part of the construction cost estimate, including attaching to the city sewer system, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

By the summer, the cost was whittled down to $135 million.

Meanwhile, MSCS superintendent Marie Feagins, who became superintendent after the East region school’s plans had already largely taken shape, questioned whether the capacity was too large given the school-age population in Frayser.

New Frayser high school overview

Capacity was dropped from 2,000 to 1,025 students.

First proposed in 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic, the new school would serve all Frayser students, who have recently been split between Trezevant High School and MLK College Prep High School, formerly known as Frayser High School. Both schools have long lists of deferred maintenance needs.

Students merged at Trezevant High School this fall. MLK College Prep reached the end of its decade in the state-takeover Achievement School District in the spring, and MSCS immediately began demolition on its building at 1530 Dellwood Ave. to make way for the new high school.

The district embarked on building the new school in Cordova after a 2022 state law forced it to sell Germantown High School. The resulting negotiated agreement gives MSCS until the end of 2031 to move students out of Germantown High.

Proceeds from the sale of Germantown High School would help fund construction in Cordova.

MSCS Interim Superintendent discusses budget and new Frayser high school

Feagins said after the City Council’s rejection of the site, the district is exploring additional land and expects enrollment of about 2,000. Germantown High currently has 1,900 students. 

Meanwhile, as the price tag for the school projects has increased, several commissioners have become more vocal in questioning the terms of the Germantown schools deal the commission approved.

The county’s funding to public education is distributed among its eight school districts based on the number of students each has as a percentage of the county’s total number of public-school students.

That means the extra $34 million for Frayser would give the other seven school systems, the new campus school at the University of Memphis and the six suburban school districts, a total of $9 million in county funds to share proportionally.

Harris has committed to also coming up with that funding. It is not a part of the resolution the commission discusses Wednesday and votes Monday.

Laura Testino contributed to this story.