Tennessee lawmakers are continuing their efforts to place Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) under increased state oversight due to concerns about student achievement, district finances, and what they describe as ineffective leadership by the elected school board.
On this week's WKNO/Channel 10 Behind the Headlines, State Rep. Mark White (R–District 83) and State Sen. Brent Taylor (R–District 31) spoke with host Eric Barnes and Daily Memphian reporter Laura Testino to discuss two bills introduced during the last legislative session, with each proposing a new oversight structure for MSCS.
White's bill, passed in the House, would create a nine-member board of managers appointed by the governor and the House and Senate speakers. The board would hold governing authority over MSCS, while the current elected school board would serve in an advisory role. "They'd all be from Memphis, Shelby County," White said. "People in the business industry, in the education industry who [have] knowledge and background on how to really move our 100,000-student school system."
Taylor's Senate version also proposed the establishment of an advisory board; however, unlike the House version, this board would not have direct authority over district operations. Instead, it would provide recommendations to the existing MSCS school board. Additionally, Taylor's bill authorized the state commissioner of education to remove school board members who failed to adhere to these recommendations. "The catch was… the commissioner of education would have the authority to remove school board members who don't get on with the program," Taylor said.
Although the two versions differ in structure, both passed in their respective chambers and remain active. “They’re sitting there fully ready to go,” White said. “All we [have] to do when we go back in January… is just line them up.”
Taylor confirmed the effort could move forward in the next session, depending on the outcome of a $6 million forensic audit of the district’s finances. “Even if we don’t have the full results of the audit,” he said, “we may be able to have [enough] information at our fingertips to do that.”
The audit, scheduled to begin this month, is expected to take between 9 and 18 months to complete. While the engagement letter outlining the scope of the audit is expected to remain confidential, partial findings may be available before the legislature adjourns in April 2026.
Still, the push for state intervention has drawn criticism from those who view it as undermining local democracy. Host Eric Barnes questioned whether it was appropriate to override the authority of an elected school board. “They had free and fair elections, people voted for them and they won,” he said.
Taylor dismissed the concern. “The school board is right up there with jock itch in terms of what people think about them,” he said, noting that there are legal mechanisms for removing elected officials at various levels of government. “This is not unprecedented. But it is difficult, and it should be.”
White added that neither bill removes the board outright, but instead shifts its role.
Taylor also raised the possibility of breaking up the MSCS district entirely into smaller, more agile systems in the future. “We've been doing the same damn thing now for a decade and it's not getting any better,” Taylor said. “I think the discussion ought to go… whether or not we need to break up the Shelby County school system into smaller districts.”
The fate of the current legislation may depend in part on the audit’s findings and whether lawmakers can agree on a unified approach to MSCS oversight. As White noted, lawmakers don’t have to act in January; with six months before session and four during, he said, “we’ve got ten months of data coming in.”
A note of remembrance: Karanja Ajanaku, a longtime Memphis journalist and frequent guest on Behind the Headlines, passed away this month at the age of 70. A former editor of the New Tri-State Defender and former reporter for The Commercial Appeal, Ajanaku was a trusted voice in Memphis journalism and a valued presence on the show. His contributions to civic dialogue in Memphis will be deeply missed.
