A Republican-appointed oversight board tasked with taking control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools is barred from meeting after the first hearing in a lawsuit challenging the board's constitutionality.
An Oct. 2 preliminary hearing lasted just over half an hour in the Fred Thompson Federal Courthouse in Nashville. State attorneys successfully sought to remove Gov. Bill Lee, House Speaker Cameron Sexton, Lt. Gov. Randy McNally and Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds as defendants in the case.
Federal Judge Waverly Crenshaw indicated he would be willing to do away with his order preventing the oversight board from intervening.
"Whenever the board is up and ready to do business, I'm going to dissolve my July 1 order," he said.
Created by Republican
lawmakers in response to an audit of the Democrat-led school district, a new 9-member oversight board was set to take control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools July 1.
But the takeover was temporarily halted after district leaders filed a lawsuit claiming it is unconstitutional because it invalidates voters' choice of duly elected local officials. The new board had only one organizational meeting in June.
Shelby County Government, MSCS, the school board, Shelby County Board of Commissioners and the nine individual members of the elected school board were named as plaintiffs on the suit.
On June 30, plaintiffs filed a motion asking the court to allow the school board to continue to operate while the lawsuit continues. Plaintiffs also asked the court to prevent the defendants, which include Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee and members of the oversight board, from interfering with or terminating any MSCS leadership without cause while the case is ongoing.
If allowed to move forward, the state-appointed oversight board would have authority over charter school approvals, superintendent hires, and the school district’s budget.
A hearing to determine whether the board will be allowed to begin its work has not yet been scheduled.
Crenshaw pressed plaintiff attorneys on what harms the new law has caused.
“How does Public Chapter 1038 deny these schoolchildren anything?” Crenshaw asked.
Plaintiff attorney Jennie Silk argued that the new law does not give Shelby County students equal treatment.
“Every other student in the state is governed by a board that they or their parents elected,” Silk said.“[Shelby County students] will be treated differently than a student of similar situation, say, in Polk County. A Polk County student is not being subjected to state oversight of its education.”
This year, state lawmakers repealed a state law that allowed lawsuits to be filed to prevent hypothetical harms. At the time, critics said eliminating the provision would make it harder for Tennessee residents to defend their rights in court. Now, by law, attorneys must prove actual harm is being done — not that it could occur in the future.
“The injury that could result,” Crenshaw said, of the students. “As of today, they have not been injured.”
For the state, Assistant Attorney General Robert Wilson argued that the new law complies with the Constitution because it applies statewide and does not single out Memphis.
“We’ll certainly agree that Memphis Shelby County Schools was the bellwether of the legislation in enacting the criteria, but all of this criteria is for any school district,” Wilson said. “Once they meet at least four of the six factors in the statute, they will also receive the same supervisory oversight board.”
Plaintiff attorneys have until Oct. 12 to file a new complaint, and the state will have until Oct. 19 to respond. A date for a preliminary injunction hearing has not yet been set.
“I would say that the one group that is clearly injured or having harm is the local Shelby County school board, because they’re losing all power to run their school system directly,” Crenshaw said. “I guess, indirectly they may have some influence with the oversight board… but certainly the local board is losing its authority.”
Vivian Jones covers state government and politics for The Tennessean. Reach her at vjones@tennessean.com.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Court hearing leaves state's Memphis school takeover board in limbo
