MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Tennessee bill that would allow the state to take over Memphis-Shelby County Schools will be up for debate on the House floor and a vote in the Senate on Monday.
House Bill 662 passed the Finance, Ways, and Means Committee on Thursday. The bill moved to the Calendar & Rules Committee and was added to the House floor and Senate agendas for Monday.
There will be up to 25 minutes of debate for each side.
The bill, also known as the Tennessee Public School Accountability Act, would authorize the Department of Education to appoint a “board of managers” to a local education agency such as Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
The board of managers would remain in place for four years.
The bill was written by Republican State Representative Mark White and filed for introduction in February 2025. White told WREG that his proposal would create a nine-member board over the next few years.
“I bring this not lightly, but I believe it is time we have to have some kind of change in place because doing what we are doing is not changing,” White said.
Calls for a state takeover of MSCS grew after Dr. Marie Feagins was fired from her role as superintendent. This includes a threat of a state takeover by Republican House Speaker Cameron Sexton in January 2025.
The bill has faced opposition from MSCS Board members as well as other elected officials and local leaders in Shelby County. Shelby County Commissioner Charlie Caswell called the bill an “attack on democracy.”
“Our schools belong to our communities, and decisions about our children’s education should be made by the people who know them best: parents, teachers, and locally elected leaders,” Caswell said.
MSCS Board member Amber Huett-Garcia described the bill as “extreme.”
“This is so much bigger than us. There is nothing that stops some form of legislation that starts doing this to city councils, starts doing this to county commissions,” Garcia said. “That’s how you erode a democracy. I find it frightening that we are willing to give up power.”