Next fall, thousands of Memphis children will qualify to participate in the new Education Savings Accounts (ESA) Program. They can receive about $7,300 in the account, which can be used for tuition at private schools, tutoring, textbooks, school uniforms and computers.

If MATA is committed to providing first-class transportation for the residents of Westwood and Boxtown, it should consider a plan recently proposed by retired bus driver Lonnie Britton to run buses through both neighborhoods every 30 minutes so riders can get to the Downtown bus terminals in 30 minutes.

A tour bus of folks from Toledo hits the highlights: from the site of the first Piggly Wiggly, to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, to The Peabody. A Memphian along for the ride finds fresh cause for wonder. 

Investigators knew that the owners acted illegally by hiring undocumented workers. If they wanted to make this crackdown an example of equal justice, they would have pulled owners out of their offices the same day they snatched immigrant workers away from their frightened children.

In Tennessee, more than 70,000 citizen children live with an undocumented family member. If a large-scale immigration raid occurred in our neighborhoods, it would have ramifications among the nearly 14,000 Latino/Latina children attending Shelby County Schools. 

Modern-day progressives like to think that progressives from earlier eras were, like them, enlightened about everything. It ain’t so now and it wasn’t so then. 

A basketball league, an all-male mentorship program and 'restorative conversations' when students make mistakes are part of the Bruce Elementary principal's philosophy of education. 

We are just a president’s cruel tweet away from Baltimore, a look in the mirror at a majority-minority city reclaiming its historic buildings, its downtown swimming in development and promise while the city struggles with how to share that promise with so many drowning in poverty.

If you were asked for a thoughtful vision statement that could become the guiding light for our entire city, what would it be? 

Thoughts on Willie Herenton's attempt to make the Memphis mayor's race a two-man affair, the influx of scooters and the Memphis story at the National Museum of African American History and Culture. 

Positive Physics reaches about 13,000 students a year in 50 states and 76 countries. Memphis teacher Jack Replinger writes the problems. Memphis computer scientist Anthony Fizer maintains the site.

'Many of us have been taught that volunteerism and philanthropy should be completely selfless. I would argue that volunteering needs to be positive for the organization AND for the volunteer.'

The Tennessee Virtual Academy, a program under the Union County Public Schools, felt "like a custom-made school" for a student diagnosed with autism and epilepsy.

Nostalgia can be fun and comforting. It can’t be a destination. Don’t long to go where you can’t go, long to make where you’re going better.

Because of our toxic political climate, the two biggest motivators that drive voters to the polls are anger and excitement. The city election is nonpartisan and falls between the 2018 midterm and next year’s presidential contest, which may leave Memphis voters complacent.

TFA teachers make a commitment to the next generation of Memphians, and a group of community advocates makes sure those teachers get a welcome box and support when they arrive.

Memphis theaters have reasonable prices, easy access and, above all, superb talent. When you see a play at one of these venues, you are seeing the theatrical equivalent of the Memphis Grizzlies. Not a team playing in the NBA finals. But definitely major league.

Some students do not enjoy reading. I was one of those students growing up. I did not enjoy reading because I did not see myself in the books we had to read in school. It was important for me to select books that my students can relate to, and most importantly see themselves in.

Services are simultaneously delivered to parents and children, and may include case management, counseling, tutoring, mentoring and life skills development.

This was Memphis in the early '60s. You could see Elvis at a stoplight, Jerry Lee in a restaurant, and listen to "Wooly Bully" on the radio waiting in line for auto inspection right in front of Sam the Sham’s club.

The first-ever master plan for the zoo was developed in 1986 and was finished with the completion of Zambezi River Hippo Camp in 2016. It is now time for a new vision. Not for a bigger Memphis Zoo, but for a better Memphis Zoo.

The Memphis River Parks Partnership has not disclosed to taxpayers how they plan to generate $1.1 billion in revenue by adding hills, trees and basketball courts to Tom Lee Park.

Poverty, crime and implicit bias have a devastating effect on black male students. Researchers found the educational achievement gap between black and white students amounted to "the economic equivalent of a permanent national recession.”

Why – if we have bike lanes to keep cyclists, pedestrians and motorists safe – do we allow unregulated, motorized scooters to take over our sidewalks? 

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee seems to have shifted his thinking in recent months on state-sponsored emblems of the Confederacy. If he's willing to go a little further, he could find a real leadership opportunity.