Changes coming to MSCS elections as lawmakers consider blunting board’s roles
Local leaders voted to put the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board seats on the spring ballot. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian file)
Changes to Memphis-Shelby County Schools board elections mean candidates must compete in partisan primaries for the first time this spring, at the same time that state and local leaders have acted to put all nine board seats on the ballot.
The campaign season, with its new partisan battles, could also include a legal challenge from incumbent board members. The new state law and Shelby County Commission vote that paved the way for aligning elections in 2026 will abridge the four-year terms of five of them elected in 2024.
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Laura Testino
Laura Testino is an enterprise reporter on The Daily Memphian’s metro team who writes most often about how education policies shape the lives of children and families. She regularly contributes to coverage of breaking news events and actions of the Tennessee General Assembly. Testino’s journalism career in Memphis began six years ago at The Commercial Appeal, where she began chronicling learning disruptions associated with the pandemic, and continued with Chalkbeat, where she dug into education administration in Memphis. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, The Times-Picayune, The Tuscaloosa News and USA Today.
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