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Is it constitutional for the Shelby County Commission to cut short the terms of Memphis-Shelby County school board members?
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s office has been asked to weigh in on that question as county officials consider resetting elections for five school board seats to align them with other 2026 local elections.
The request for the attorney general’s opinion came from Democratic state Rep. G.A. Hardaway, one of several Memphis lawmakers who backed a new law allowing local governments to alter the terms of school board members. The Shelby County Commission was set to vote last week on a resolution to reset MSCS board terms under that law, but instead kicked it back to committee amid pushback from sitting school board members and lingering questions about the resolution’s constitutionality.
The committee is expected to again consider the resolution on August 6.
The new law allowing such moves passed the General Assembly this year with bipartisan support and was written broadly to apply to any local governing bodies in Tennessee.
But the legislation was sponsored by Memphis lawmakers and has been widely viewed as an accountability measure aimed at four board members who voted to fire Marie Feagins as MSCS superintendent earlier this year, a move that angered many community members and triggered a lawsuit by Feagins. That lawsuit is still pending.
Tamarques Porter, Stephanie Love, Natalie McKinney, Sable Otey, and Towanna Murphy would all be affected under the resolution if the commission formally approves the measure. The school board members, all elected in 2024, would have their four-year terms cut short by two years.
Opponents of the reset resolution, including the Shelby County Democratic Party, now say the resolution violates a section of the Tennessee Constitution that says the legislature can’t pass legislation to remove a local official from office.
The law itself doesn’t change the length of any local official’s term in office. Rather, it allows local bodies to decide whether to do so.
However, language in the same section of the state constitution suggests that local bodies such as the Shelby County Commission must either hold a referendum on the issue, or vote to approve such a change by at least a two-thirds majority, rather than a simply majority.
“There’s nothing wrong with the legislation so much. It’s how they’re choosing to execute it,” Hardaway, who voted for the legislation earlier this year, said of the proposed county resolution. “I think that’s where the questions need to be answered by the AG. Let’s organize the facts and applicable law so that they know where they are and what they’re doing going forward.”
Tennessee attorney general opinions are not legally binding, but are instead considered legal advice to clients, such as state lawmakers, about what would be legally defensible. Hardaway last week said he requested an expedited opinion from the office, but there is no timeline of when it might respond.
Hardaway said he wouldn’t express a public opinion on the issue before he receives guidance from the AG’s office, but he believes the commission should “allow some time for this ship to right itself” before applying the law to the MSCS board.
“The considerations that they’re going to have to address for the voters is going to be whether the voters have the say so, whether they are required to have one or not, whether it’s put to a referendum,” Hardaway said. “Most of the voters I’ve heard from want to have a say so. They want a referendum.”
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
