There are 344 articles by Laura Testino :
Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members settled on a name for the district’s new high school in Frayser. Neighborhood charter school Libertas is also set to expand into high school grades.
Here are short biographies of the appointees to the state takeover board, which will have sweeping powers over Memphis-Shelby County Schools through 2030.
The $1.7 billion plan for Memphis-Shelby County Schools could be shaken up by a new board of state appointees during the 2026-27 academic year.
Lt. Gov. McNally selected a former MSCS board member and a local attorney for the school takeover board. House Speaker Sexton tapped the leader of a Nashville-based education-policy group to the board.
To succeed under Tennessee’s takeover metrics, appointees to the Memphis schools oversight board will likely focus on the district’s lowest-performing schools. Experts say that could result in tremendous academic growth for poor students — or closures of their schools.
Among Gov. Lee’s five appointments to a Memphis schools takeover board are a former Memphis superintendent and former president of the Memphis Chamber.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools changed its plan for all third graders to retake the statewide exam days before summer break.
The appointment leaves a vacancy in the 9th Congressional District seat on the State Board of Education, which has an increasingly large role to play in setting the standards for success at Tennessee schools.
The map would make all nine of Tennessee’s seats Republican-leaning districts.
South Memphis charter schools Believe Memphis Academy and Memphis Delta Preparatory Charter School each received a Tennessee “priority” designation for low performance earlier this school year.
The contract extension for attorney Justin Bailey would keep him employed with the district for at least three more years.
The Tennessee State Board of Education is among at least five state boards that appoint members in alignment with the congressional map.
For some students, improved scores could excuse them from summer school and tutoring interventions required by a state reading retention law.
As a state takeover looms, voters retained two Memphis-Shelby County Schools incumbents seeking re-election, according to unofficial election results from the board’s first-ever partisan primaries held Tuesday, May 5.
Shelby County commissioners voted to take money from county reserve funds to pay the possible cost of suing the state over a pending state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The board talked about charter schools, contracts and a response to the state audit at what may have been the final meeting before a state oversight board is appointed.
On average, Memphis-Shelby County Schools teachers will see a 3.9% increase in their pay next year, not including bonuses, according to the district’s top business and finance official.
The Tennessee Senate and House of Representatives both voted down party lines Wednesday, April 22, to pass a takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools. The bill now heads to the governor’s desk.
The MSCS board’s resolution claims that Tennessee lawmakers’ takeover proposal “directly conflicts with established constitutional provisions and statutory requirements.”
A proposal to take over Memphis-Shelby County Schools would allow a board of appointees the power to reshape how the district educates its 100,000 students, who is in charge of those schools and more.
Expanded board powers are among several new details of a proposed state takeover legislation targeting Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
As voters cast early ballots in the primary, Tennessee lawmakers are expected to take final votes on takeover legislation that would strip elected school board members of their powers by granting major decision-making authority to nine Shelby County state appointees.
“We don’t want anyone using those public dollars that we send down to educate the children to enter into litigation because they might not agree with the high accountability standards that we’re putting in place,” bill sponsor state Rep. Mark White, R-Memphis, said.
A small group of state lawmakers is expected to meet Monday, in the waning days of the legislative session, to determine the details of a proposal to take over the Memphis school system.
A local judge ruled that Shelby County commissioners “exceeded their authority” in passing a resolution that placed all nine school board seats on the ballot last fall.