By Melissa Brown
Tennessee Republicans took one step closer to seizing major controls from the Memphis-Shelby County school district on Monday in a takeover effort that could eventually affect other school systems across the state.
The legislation would install a politically appointed oversight board in any Tennessee school district that meets four of six criteria of academic underperformance and management instability.
Republicans on Monday, April 20, approved a conference committee bill, which will now move to full House and Senate votes this week.
The nine-person oversight board would be empowered to fire any district employee, including the superintendent, with or without cause. It would also have veto power over the district budget.
The bill would become law immediately if passed, meaning Tennessee Republicans could appoint an oversight board amid ongoing school board elections in Memphis.
Memphis takeover advocates have argued intervention is needed due to consistent academic underperformance in the state’s largest school district. But Tennessee Department of Education officials testified on Monday that a majority of school districts meet the same academic underperformance criteria, and seven school districts meet three of four performance standards.
Those districts include Campbell, Cocke, Madison, Lewis, and Shelby counties, in addition to the state-run Achievement School District and the Tennessee Public Charter School district.
Under draft legislation proposed by a conference committee this week, the state could install an oversight board in school districts where:
- fewer than 50% of students earn proficient scores on state standardized math tests.
- fewer than 50% of students earn proficient scores on state standardized English language arts tests.
- 25% or more of schools in the district earn a D or F letter grade from the Tennessee Department of Education.
- and a 25% or higher chronic absenteeism rate.
Rep. Mark White, a Memphis Republican who is co-sponsoring the effort to intervene in Memphis schools, noted MSCS is the only state district that meets all of those criteria.
The final two designations include the commissioner of education, a political appointee, determining whether an audit shows deficiencies in district management, and whether the local board of education has employed more than two superintendents or directors of schools in the last four years.
Memphis is the only district in the state with an ongoing state-funded forensic audit managed by the Tennessee’s Comptroller audit, though school districts are routinely examined in lower-profile audits.
“It highlights that this legislation was written very surgically to apply only to Memphis and Shelby County schools,” said Sen. Raumesh Akbari, a Memphis Democrat who called the intervention effort “heavy-handed.”
Takeover or intervention?
Memphis Republicans pushing for intervention argue the effort is not a state takeover of Tennessee’s largest district, as lawmakers or the Department of Education would not directly control decisions within the district. The majority of the oversight board members must be residents of Shelby County.
However, the new legislation gives elected Republicans in Tennessee broad authority to craft or even trigger an oversight board, given the commissioner of education authority included in the legislation. The governor would appoint five oversight board members, and the House and Senate speakers would get two appointees each.
The oversight board would seize major financial controls from the Memphis-Shelby County school board, whose primary authority is to set the district’s operating budget and manage the district’s superintendent.
Under the draft legislation, the school board would have to submit its proposed budget to the oversight body for approval. The oversight body could veto any or all line items in the budget.
The oversight board could even rewrite the entire district’s budget under certain circumstances, if the school board doesn’t meet the oversight board’s timeline for revising the budget.
The draft legislation also inserts some control over the local legislative body, which in Memphis’ case would be the Shelby County Board of Commissioners. It would block the local body from signing off on the district’s budget without the oversight board’s approval.
Tennessee Republicans frequently point to the 2023 state takeover of Houston public schools as a model for MSCS’ intervention, where state education leaders immediately fired and appointed a new superintendent.
The current MSCS board unanimously approved a three-year permanent contract for Superintendent Roderick Richmond on March 31. That contract puts the district on the hook for a nearly half-million dollar payout if the new state board decides to fire Richmond without cause.
But the new bill would make it easier for the oversight board to fire Richmond with cause. The board could cite as cause for termination any refusal of the superintendent to follow their directives, or contributing to “deficiencies in the management, accounting, or internal controls of the LEA.”
The legislation calls for the oversight board to conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that would essentially audit teacher staffing levels, including reviewing results of annual teacher evaluations. The board would be authorized to review any and all records from the district, including teacher evaluation records and student disciplinary reports.
The oversight board would then be tasked with developing a “transformation plan that identifies performance and operational goals” in the district.
The board could hire a contractor to draw up those assessments and plans.
The oversight board would be subject to Tennessee’s open meetings and public records law. No other criteria are outlined in the draft legislation. Oversight board members could be removed by the governor and legislative leaders at any time, for any reason.
Oversight board members must be compensated at the same rate as school board members under the legislation. They can hire up to three staff members total, in addition to reassigning a staff member from the district office. The district must pay for those salaries, but they can petition the Department of Education for some funding.
“It would almost be like you’re paying for two school boards,” Akbari said.
Costs rise for audit, intervention model
Intervention advocates, led by Memphis Republicans and party leaders like House Speaker Cameron Sexton, have funneled even more state dollars into the audit effort. Gov. Bill Lee is directing another $1.7 million to complete the audit in next year’s budget, which grows the total price tag of the audit to $8.7 million.
And it’s possible lawmakers could direct another $1 million to help fund a new oversight board.
The nearly $10 million in state funds far outpaces the potential fraud and waste findings revealed by the audit thus far. The ongoing financial audit, which covers a three-year period, revealed around $1.1 million in funds that auditors said could be potential waste and abuse. Another $1.7 million was flagged as spending misaligned with district policies that didn’t rise to waste and abuse thresholds.
That amounts to less than 1% of the district’s operating budget over the three-year period being audited.
Tennessee Republican leaders suggested the early findings were among the worst audit findings they had ever seen, pointing to mismanagement of employee paperwork and alleged cooperation issues with district officials.
Democrats on Monday pushed back on these assertions. Akbari, the Memphis Democrat, pointed to previous school audits in Maury and Polk counties, which found millions in mismanaged funds and major control failures. Neither of those audits triggered a state-funded forensic audit or state intervention.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat.
