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Gov. Bill Lee has signed legislation that will give political appointees sweeping authority over Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The new law is an unprecedented effort to seize local control of Tennessee’s largest public school district through a nine-person oversight board appointed by the state’s top three Republicans, including the governor.
Lee announced his appointments shortly after signing the legislation, tapping five Shelby County residents, many of whom already sit on Tennessee governing boards.
The governor’s appointees include at least one member with intimate knowledge of the district’s inner workings: Dorsey Hopson, who served as Memphis superintendent from 2013 to early 2019.
The takeover effort now goes into effect just weeks after Memphis voters cast their ballots in the 2026 school board primary, an election for four contested board seats that now have significantly less power. And expected legal challenges to the takeover will also collide with another Republican supermajority effort to seize Tennessee’s last Democratic congressional district through a controversial redistricting measure that now significantly dilutes Memphians’ voting power.
The takeover oversight board has been tasked with conducting a comprehensive review of the district’s academic challenges. Republican supporters of the takeover have argued that progress is unacceptably stagnant after years of academic underperformance in the district that serves more than 100,000 students.
Last year, more than 75% of Memphis students failed to achieve proficiency in reading and math based on state standardized tests. However, Memphis schools earned the highest possible score in academic growth, or student improvement on state tests, for the fourth year in a row.
Opponents of the takeover have pointed to systemic socioeconomic issues in Shelby County as an inextricable factor in MSCS academic performance. Democrats have also argued the district has been harmed by the whiplash of state-imposed policies over the years, such as the failed Achievement School District, a previous state takeover of Memphis’ lowest performing schools.
The new oversight board will have nearly unlimited power to dive into district records, from teacher evaluations to curriculum reviews. It also will control the district’s largest financial decisions, the operating budget, and superintendent’s contract. Its power even extends to the Shelby County Commission, which will be blocked from approving the MSCS annual budget until the oversight board gives its approval.
The effective takeover of the district comes amid increasing tensions between Tennessee Republicans, a majority-white party with supermajority power in the state, and local leaders in Memphis, a longtime Democratic stronghold with a majority-Black population. Last year, Republicans imposed a state and federal law enforcement surge because of immigration and crime concerns, and GOP lawmakers in May rushed to split the county’s congressional district to better favor Republican candidates.
A Memphis school board member in April called the oversight law “racist” as Tennessee Republicans, all of whom are white, will seize control from the locally elected school board, the majority of whom are Black. Memphis parents have expressed concern about funding and support for a predominantly Black school district.
The school board is considering its legal options to challenge the takeover and a companion law that effectively blocks them from using district funds to pay for legal action.
Not all Memphians are opposed to an oversight board after years of academic underperformance and leadership instability, which some say came to head after the local school board suddenly fired former Superintendent Marie Feagins in January 2025. There have been four MSCS superintendents in the last five years.
The school board last month finalized a permanent contract for then-interim Superintendent Roderick Richmond, potentially saddling the district with a nearly half-million dollar payout if he is fired without cause, often a first step in district takeovers.
But the oversight board law may provide the new board a loophole to avoid a payout. The oversight board can fire MSCS’ superintendent and appoint a new one with up to a four-year contract if they find any example of him contributing to “deficiencies in the management, accounting, or internal controls” of the district.
Per the new law, the oversight board must begin its work by July 1. The governor will appoint five board members, the majority of the board. Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and House Speaker Cameron Sexton, both Republicans, will get two picks each.
A spokesperson for McNally said he planned to make his appointments in “the very near future.”
Eight of the nine oversight board members must be Shelby County residents under the law. However, Sexton negotiated an arrangement that the House speaker can appoint one oversight board member who does not reside in Shelby County, as long as they live in the state.
Under the law, political leaders can remove and rename board members at any time, for any reason.
Melissa Brown is the bureau chief for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact Melissa at mbrown@chalkbeat.org.
