Education
Busy year of hiring, firing, reassigning led to payroll problems at MSCS, audit finds
The regular audit is separate from the state-ordered forensic audit of the Memphis school system. The forensic audit is underway.
Laura Testino
There are 329 articles by Laura Testino :
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February 2026
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Education These five Memphis schools will close this summer
Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members voted to close five campuses at the end of the school year. The decision impacts 2,650 students and staff, and could be the first round of a total 15 school closures within three years.
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Education MSCS could challenge state takeover in court
Republican sponsors of the bill have said they’ll push the Tennessee General Assembly to pass legislation that would kneecap the elected board by giving a new board of state appointees powers over MSCS.
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March 2026
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Public Safety Family files $35 million wrongful death suit against Youth Villages
Matthew De’Marcus Williams, 22, was shot and killed while attending a violence intervention program meeting in 2025. His family has filed a wrongful death suit against Youth Villages.
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Education MSCS pitches ‘accountability plan’ alternative to state takeover
Billed as “a proactive alternative to state-imposed governance,” the new intervention would create a Memphis-Shelby County Schools board committee of local elected officials and community members.
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Education As forensic audit results loom, MSCS to update certain processes
Announced changes to business and records-keeping processes at Memphis-Shelby County Schools offer clues about what recommendations forensic auditors may soon publicize.
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Ask the Memphian Ask the Memphian: Why are five MSCS schools closing, and what happens now?
The closures prompted questions. What would happen to students, staff and the buildings themselves? Can more closures could happen in the future, and could charter schools could be among schools on the chopping block. Let’s get into it.
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Education$200M would buy nearly 1,000 Memphis school upgrades. Will the money be there?
Over the next couple months, the Shelby County Commission will have to wrestle with how many Memphis-Shelby County Schools projects the county can actually fund. Doing them all would cost $200 million, a sum the county is unlikely to provide.
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Education MSCS board makes Richmond ‘interim’ again, punts on takeover alternative plan
Memphis-Shelby County Schools board members voted 7-2 during a special-called meeting on Wednesday, March 18, to keep Roderick Richmond on his interim superintendent contract.
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EducationAmid county mayoral bid, Feagins sues MSCS again
The lawsuit is the second Marie Feagins has filed against MSCS since she was fired in January 2025.
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Shelby County Some docs in Feagins’ initial lawsuit won’t be ‘released to Facebook’
A judge ruled from the bench that former Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins and the school district can shield certain documents from the public in the case.
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Education MSCS must name its new Frayser high campus as it considers selling more buildings
Frayser? Trezevant? Frayser-Trezevant? As construction continues, MSCS will have to make up its collective mind.
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EducationWhat makes a low-performing MSCS school? State board targets 14 schools for improvements
About a dozen campuses run by Memphis-Shelby County Schools will be subject to more academic scrutiny over the next year as officials work to improve the schools’ F letter grades.
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EducationMSCS reconsiders superintendent contract on eve of forensic audit results
The revote sets the stage for the elected Memphis-Shelby County Schools board to consider finalizing a superintendent contract shortly before Tennessee lawmakers make significant headway on legislation that would strip the board of those hiring and firing powers.
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April 2026
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Education MSCS makes Richmond official as audit results loom
Richmond’s contract allows the board to fire him for cause without any pay if he earns poor marks for business management or fails to implement required corrective action plans related to the incoming audit results.
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Education MSCS audit yields findings ‘consistent with waste and abuse’
An interim forensic audit report of Memphis-Shelby County Schools yielded 175 deficiencies.
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EducationCOVID funding, contracts, controls: What’s in the MSCS audit
Here’s what auditors CliftonLarsonAllen LLP found in district finances at a time of high leadership turmoil and financial change, with federal pandemic relief funding and a new state education funding formula.
Related content:
MSCS audit yields findings ‘consistent with waste and abuse’
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Education MSCS advances improvement plan, acknowledges ‘critical blind spots’ uncovered by state’s audit
MSCS head Roderick Richmond is advancing plans to improve internal controls and district processes in response to forensic audit findings released last week. Now, the district has launched two websites to track progress.
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Education Memphis-Shelby County Schools sets 2026-27 academic calendar
Beginning next year, the district’s administration has said it hopes to move more quickly on producing a school calendar and potentially consider multiple calendar years at once.
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2026 elections
ElectionsOnly four MSCS board seats will appear on 2026 ballot, judge rules
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.
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State Government TN Senate inches closer to details of an MSCS takeover, which could get $1M in startup money
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.
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State Government TN lawmakers vote to stifle education lawsuits as MSCS takeover legislation advances
“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.
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2026 elections
ElectionsPartisan MSCS board races begin as state considers takeover. Here’s who is running for office.
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.
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Education Takeover plan would give state appointees sweeping power over Memphis schools
Expanded board powers are among several new details of a proposed state takeover legislation targeting Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
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EducationClosures, spending, superintendent hires: What could state appointees decide about Memphis schools?
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.
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