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Memphis-Shelby County school leaders are suing top Tennessee Republicans in an effort to stop a new takeover law from diverting power away from the locally elected school board to a new board of political appointees.
The district, alongside the Shelby County Commission and all nine individual MSCS board members, filed a lawsuit in federal court late Thursday night – hours after the Republican-appointed oversight board met for the first time in Nashville.
Gov. Bill Lee, who’s named directly in the lawsuit, signed the takeover legislation into law in late May.
“Every child deserves the opportunity to succeed, and throughout the Lee Administration, we’ve made significant investments to ensure students in Shelby County receive a quality education,” a Lee spokesperson said Friday. “Gov. Lee remains committed to strengthening outcomes and expanding pathways to success for students and families.”
With the law in effect, top Republican lawmakers appointed a nine-member oversight board that will seize control of key district decisions. That intervention “dismantles” local education systems and strips the county government of its authority to approve school budgets, MSCS argues in the lawsuit.
It also violates the Fourteenth Amendment and the Tennessee Constitution, according to the new filing. Local leaders are seeking a preliminary injunction to stop the takeover board from making any decisions once their term starts in less than two weeks.
“Once the Oversight Board is constituted and acts, the consequences cannot be undone,” the lawsuit says. “The democratic right of Shelby County’s voters to elect representatives who actually govern cannot be restored through damages or retrospective relief.”
House Speaker Cameron Sexton and Lt. Gov. Randy McNally, who chose the other four oversight board members, are also named in the lawsuit, alongside the state education commissioner.
Board members and local residents have criticized the MSCS takeover for usurping power from the local school board elected by Memphis voters. The new oversight board will have final say over superintendent and staff contracts, along with MSCS’ annual budget.
The local board approved a $1.7 billion budget draft in late May, but it’s unclear whether that will be subjected to the oversight board’s intervention. The new oversight board plans to meet again in less than three weeks, and they’re waiting for full results from a billion-dollar forensic audit that may guide their initial decisions in the district.
Not all Memphians are opposed to the state takeover. Intervention advocates cite years of academic underperformance and leadership instability in the district, which some say came to head after the local school board suddenly fired former Superintendent Marie Feagins in January 2025.
MSCS has had four superintendents in the past five years. And while the district has earned the highest score in state measures of student growth for the past four years, over 75% of Memphis students failed to achieve proficiency in reading and math last year.
Some community members told Chalkbeat they are doubtful a lawsuit will succeed in reversing the takeover legislation, a sentiment echoed by GOP lawmakers who sponsored the effort. The Shelby County Commission will front the cost of the lawsuit because of a law passed in late April that prevents the school district from funding a lawsuit against state accountability measures.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.
