Can the GOP Memphis schools takeover be stopped? Local leaders weigh the district’s options.

“Sign up for Chalkbeat Tennessee’s free newsletter to keep up with statewide education policy and Memphis-Shelby County Schools. Memphis mom Shelby Pearson said she knew the state takeover of Memphis-Shelby County Schools was inevitable once the school board voted to fire former Superintendent Marie Feagins in January 2025. Now Pearson, who has a 5-year-old son at Idlewild Elementary, said she’s worried about giving control of a majority-Black school district to an all-white group of Republican lawmakers, who will soon handpick a new oversight board with sweeping authority over the state’s largest school district. The new board could nullify MSCS contracts with Black-owned businesses, she said, or cut funding for local after-school programs. “How will our kids be protected?” Pearson said. “How will our kids still have the funding that they need?” Despite public rallies and protests held last year over the issue, community pushback was noticeably muted this spring as Tennessee Republicans officially passed a bill to take over Memphis-Shelby County Schools . The nine oversight board members will be appointed by top Republican leaders, likely in the next couple of weeks after Gov. Bill Lee officially signs the measure into law. The new board will have the authority to fire newly appointed Superintendent Roderick Richmond . It will also have final say over the district’s budget and school closure decisions. State Republicans, including takeover bill sponsors Sen. Brent Taylor and Rep. Mark White, say the intervention is necessary to combat fiscal mismanagement in MSCS and improve academic underperformance . District leaders have criticized the takeover, and they are advocating for a more-collaborative approach to fixing local education issues . Joseph Kyles leads the Rainbow PUSH Coalition Memphis, one of the local nonprofits heavily involved in last year’s takeover protests. He said the community is reacting differently this time, including by increasing early voting . Four local school board seats are up for election this year . As of Saturday, almost 29,000 people had voted in the May 5 primary, up by 8,000 votes from the same point in 2018 . But residents may be casting votes for a new school board that will hold significantly less power than in years past. “[Memphians] understand that the state has made up their mind,” Kyles said. “And it’s not a time for making arguments at this point, it’s a legal question about whether or not you can have taxation without representation.” But Pearson said she doesn’t think there’s anything the district can do now to challenge state intervention. The Republican-appointed oversight board is “going to strip the funding, send the funding to the suburbs, and then our kids will be the ones that are left with nothing,” she said. “Now, we’re going to have children that are already failing in school and don’t have adequate funding,” Pearson said. “They’re going to suffer even more.” The Memphis school board voted last week to hire a lawyer to challenge the impending state takeover. But the district’s hands might be tied because of a Republican-backed law signed by Lee hours before that vote that blocks the district from using public funds to pay for the lawsuit . Kyles said that law is blatantly unconstitutional and should be challenged. But if it is upheld by courts, he said, “then the resources are going to come from the people.” “And I believe that is quietly being organized,” Kyles said. Two Shelby County Commissioners attempted to put a $200,000 investment in MSCS legal action on the local government’s agenda Monday, the Daily Memphian reported . But the commissioners narrowly voted down that measure. Justin Bailey, MSCS’ general counsel, said the district is waiting for Lee to sign the takeover bill into law before advancing any legal action. But Luke Cymbal, vice president of the Shelby County Republicans, said he’s confident a lawsuit against the state takeover will fail in court anyway. Cymbal says the oversight board needs to have all-encompassing authority over the district in order to “turn around the school system.” He says Tennessee leaders are modeling their aggressive approach after the 2023 takeover of Houston’s public school district, where Mike Miles is the state-appointed superintendent. “When I met in Nashville with the superintendent of the Houston school district, he said, ‘You have got to be strong on the legislation,’” Cymbal said. “‘If you do not give it teeth, if you do not give authority to the board of managers, then nothing will change.’” Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.

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