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 |  | Previously, we brought you a breakdown of the differences between the proposed state interventions in Memphis-Shelby County Schools in separate House and Senate bills. We also took you through the history of previous local education reform efforts dating back to 2008. Follow along for part three this week, as we explore what needs to change about our current education system:
Overview of legislation (3/28/25) Overview of transformation efforts (4/4/25) What needs to change? (4/11/25) Overview of final law and next steps (TBD)
Regardless of where you stand on the proposed state intervention or the recent actions of the MSCS board, we can all agree on one thing: There is room for improvement at MSCS. We have seen slivers of improvement throughout the reform years, as detailed in last week’s newsletter. Though most of the reform efforts ultimately did not achieve their lofty aims, several bright spots like a focus on teacher and school leader effectiveness, family engagement, public pre-k, and some investments in school facilities created the blueprint for what we can hope to accomplish moving forward.
So, the important question is: What needs to change in Memphis, Shelby County, and Memphis-Shelby County Schools to ensure that we are providing a world-class education for our students?
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| | Right-Sizing the District:Students deserve access to modern, healthy school buildings that encourage innovative learning. The average age of school buildings in Memphis-Shelby County Schools is 64 years—24 more than the national recommended life span of 40 years. The current estimated deferred maintenance cost that the district faces for its facilities stands at around $1 billion. This cost estimate does not take into account the schools with dwindling populations that likely do not need to be repaired, but rather consolidated with other underenrolled schools. All around our city, population shifts over the decades have not been reflected by comprehensive planning and investment in school infrastructure. That’s why any future attempt at reforming MSCS will need to involve the development of a comprehensive facilities plan that will:
Determine which school buildings should be closed, consolidated, or renovated to increase density, development, and neighborhood economic opportunity. Determine where to build new sustainable, multi-purpose, and flexible buildings for a changing education system (like the new schools in Frayser and Cordova). Reduce the charter portfolio to the highest performing providers and enhance their capacity to expand high-quality options through a portfolio management structure that rewards innovation and effectiveness Reinvest operational and cost-savings of right-sizing into the quality of programming and facilities. (Examples of potential investment opportunities are below.)
Interim Superintendent Toni Williams began laying out a similar plan before her departure in 2024. You can read about it here.
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| Universal Access to Early Childhood Education:As we mentioned in last week’s edition, Memphis used a portion of the Race to the Top funding to expand public funded pre-K in Shelby County beyond the state Volunteer Pre-K program, which was created in 2006. The city and county have since expanded the pre-k system with the creation of First 8 Memphis, to extremely encouraging results. Four-year-olds who attend First 8 pre-k classrooms are 20 percentage points higher on kindergarten readiness assessments, than their peers who did not receive Pre-K. Pre-k, however, is only a part of the broad array of early childhood education programs that are necessary to ensure that children enter school ready to learn and thrive. There is no shortage of research that suggests that the pathway to literacy begins at birth, with early home visiting programs, childcare, and pre-k playing significant roles. Our city and county would benefit greatly from investing in the earliest years of a child’s life to ensure academic and career success, rather than more costly retroactive policies. The city, county, and school district should adopt a comprehensive early childhood education approach and invest in it collectively at scale. We can begin by:
Fully funding the new “Pre-k for ALL” ordinance and ensuring those seats are aligned to high quality elementary schools to maintain learning and early literacy development. Expanding evidence-based home visit programs like those coordinated by the Early Success Coalition to support families prenatal to age 3; Investing in access to high quality childcare (Childcare is the largest cost and barrier for families entering the workforce to achieve incomes necessary to accelerate economic mobility.); and Ensuring there is high quality science of reading based instruction,instructional coaching, and instructional materials from pre-k to 3rd grade.
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| Expansion of Community Schools & Supportive Services for Students & FamiliesIn 2023, Shelby County received a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to establish full-service community schools models in six schools within the county. All three schools within Millington Municipal Schools, as well as three schools in North Memphis, were included in the grant. The idea behind community schools is to create a centralized hub of resources for students, families, and the broader community to mitigate the external factors that impact a child’s ability to learn, such as lack of access to food, healthcare, and housing. Community schools are tailored to the needs of each community in which they are located and have been found to reduce chronic absenteeism, improve health and nutrition, and lessen the load on teachers so that they can focus on teaching. Examples of resources that you might find in a community school include health clinics, food pantries, arts programming, and anything that the community can imagine with its willing partners. This extremely effective model is one that we should pursue county-wide by:
Providing all students expanded learning opportunities before, during, and after school; Providing students and their families with the mental health and health supports they need to thrive; Ensuring there is a housing stability strategy in priority areas to reduce student mobility, including addressing homelessness among students; Providing school-based family support services, workforce counseling, and training opportunities; Expanding effective tutoring programs to support student growth; and, Ensuring every school has access to art and music programs to enrich the lives of its students and encourage their creativity
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| Expanding High Quality Early Career & Postsecondary Opportunities: With the rising cost of postsecondary education and the increased need for specific credentialing for high-wage jobs, many high school students and recent graduates find themselves in the difficult position of navigating a largely disconnected network of College, Career and Technical Education (CCTE) opportunities or early postsecondary courses, many of which do not align with existing industries in Memphis and Shelby County. To ensure that students receive the educational opportunities they need to achieve a high-wage profession and bolster our local economy, MSCS should work to:
Expand the most impactful and effective career training programs Develop a network of innovative high school models designed to support student career and college pathways in certain high-wage professions (medical, engineering, cyber security, business and management, etc.) Partner with local industry and businesses to co-invest in long-term partnerships (UTHSC, XAi, FedEx, IP, Autozone, etc.) Establish paid apprenticeship and internship pathways for students ready to advance in a specific industry Establish additional dual enrollment, early college, advanced coursework, AP, and IB opportunities for all students
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| Expanding the High-Quality Teacher & Leader Pipeline:The focus on teacher effectiveness in the earliest stage of education reform in Memphis was one of the most promising practices of the last 15 years. Though the majority of factors that impact a student’s ability to learn are external to the school (as outlined in the segment of this newsletter that talks about Community Schools), a teacher’s effectiveness is the single most important classroom-related factor that affects a child’s potential. Likewise, school and district leadership impacts the effectiveness of teachers. As such, our school district, in partnership with the city and county, should:
Enhance compensation for the most effective teachers Expand access to effective teachers (recruit, train, reward, and retain the most talented and effective teachers) Adopt high-quality instructional materials Recruit, train, reward, and retain effective leaders and district staff
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| |  | While this is not a comprehensive blueprint for turning the tide at Memphis-Shelby County Schools, achieving the majority of these objectives would put our students, district, and community on the pathway to a world-class education system and economy. Regardless of what the state’s potential intervention in MSCS might look like, we believe transformative change is necessary; this is true for the current MSCS Board of Directors or any future form of governance. If we have learned anything as a community over the past 15+ years of education reform, pursuing only one of these transformational opportunities, and not addressing our structural challenges, will not be enough. |
|  | Recent Hearings, Meetings, & Legislation |
| | Memphis City Council: On Tuesday, Mayor Paul Young presented his budget proposal for FY26 to the City Council. Unlike last year, his current proposal includes no property tax hike and leaves spending flat. He urged members of the council to find offsets for any spending they would like to add to his $883.4 million presented budget.
Also this week, the Memphis City Council passed the “Pre-K for All” joint ordinance on its second reading. If passed, the expansion of the current law would allow for public funds to be used for three-year-old pre-k, as well as open seats up to students regardless of family income. The third and final reading of the ordinance is slated for April 22nd. |
| Shelby County Commission Committees: Also this week, the Shelby County Commission passed the “Pre-K for All” joint ordinance on its third and final committee reading. The full commission will consider it at their next meeting on Monday. |
| Tennessee General Assembly: This week, the TN State Senate passed SB 0836 to authorize school districts and charter schools to refuse enrollment to undocumented students. Seven Republican senators voted in line with all Democrats to oppose the bill, which passed with slim margins. The House will soon take up their version of the bill, which differs in substance from the Senate version regarding requirements for collecting citizenship documentation. Some lawmakers have claimed that the intent of the bill is to incur legal challenges that would result in a Supreme Court case to overturn Plyler v. Doe, a 1982 decision in which the court ruled that states cannot deny undocumented children access to public education. |
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| Upcoming Hearings, Meetings, & Legislation |
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