WKNO TRANSCRIPT
CHRISTOPHER BLANK (Host): Tennessee lawmakers took the first step Tuesday in creating a state-appointed oversight board for Memphis-Shelby County Schools. The bill proposed by State Rep. Mark White now goes to the full K-12 Education committee. With us to talk about that is Mike Carpenter, Principal of Carpenter Civic Strategies, and a former Shelby County Commissioner. Thanks for being with us.
MIKE CARPENTER: Thank you for having me, Christopher.
BLANK: First Mike, this bill came about because many parents and officials feel that the school board is making some bad decisions. Rep. White said this is a short-term intervention based on a Texas plan. It seems to me that the real discussion isn't so much about the need for this, but about the democratic process. Voters get to pick their own school boards in Tennessee. Do you see that as the main protest about this takeover?
CARPENTER: I don't know if it's the main protest, but it's certainly one of the main protests. And I think Rep. Sam McKenzie from Knoxville really went at that yesterday in the subcommittee meeting when he said, you guys -- meaning the Republicans -- always tell us that we have a Republic, not a Democracy. And in a Republic, we select our representatives to speak for us. And so now you're sort of throwing that out the window. That was his argument against the idea. So yes, I think that's a big issue because under the legislation the nine-member school board would become advisory only and could only make recommendations to a a nine-member board of managers that would be appointed by the Lt. Governor and the Speaker of the of the House.
BLANK: The original bill was a kind of plan for failing school districts statewide, but then it left the subcommittee Tuesday with Rep. White saying it would only apply to Memphis-Shelby County Schools. What do you see as the political reason for that change?
CARPENTER: This is a common tactic in the legislature when we're talking about a bill that affects cities or, in this case, school districts across the state. To gather the political support to push a state takeover through, I am sure that representatives from Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Nashville, were called once this bill dropped and said, "Hey, we don't want to be a part of this." And so I think, essentially, what they've probably said to Rep. White is, "Hey, we we can't support it if our community's in it." And so he's amended the bill down to effectively only apply to Shelby County.
BLANK: We do have the largest school district in the state, and that comes with some of the biggest problems in the state. What do you think a state-appointed management board made up of experts could do in four years that our elected board can't?
CARPENTER: I think that this will go on a lot longer than four years if it happens, because I think that when you're talking about roughly 100,000 students and a billion dollar budget with all the problems that you allude to, I think it's going to take more than four years to make any kind of change. But what they could do is — if it's based on the model that is in Houston, which I know Rep. White has has looked at — the board would have a lot of power to to appoint a leader, power to determine how the money is spent, the power to eliminate positions, and to put new standards in, new curriculum in, lots of different things that could be done in terms of processes and personnel. And so, it could be some sweeping changes like they've seen in Houston.
BLANK: And if the state does intervene here, are they also then more accountable for the outcomes that they want to see?
BLANK: Well, you know, I think that's a really great question, and in my view, they should be. But I would say that they should really be accountable to a large extent now. I mean, $900 million of the school system's budget comes from the state. The vast majority of of laws, rules, and regulations that affect schools come from the state level, not from the federal government or the local. So if our kids are failing to make the grade, so to speak, or not doing as well on standardized tests, then I think the state definitely bears some substantial responsibility for that, and would going forward.
