Charter School Decisions Add Fuel to State Takeover Rumors as MSCS Fails to Prioritize At-Risk Youth
By the Shelby County Observer Education Staff on July 22, 2025
SHELBY COUNTY, TENNESSEE – On July 8, 2025, the Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) Charter School Office delivered a crushing blow to educational equity, denying 2 ASD Transition Schools – Hillcrest High School and Kirby Middle School; and 2 charter school proposals that targeted underserved and high-need communities. Among the rejected charter school applicants were Dream Catchers Charter School, aimed at serving Memphis’ growing homeless youth population, and Still I Rise Academy, an Opportunity School designed for students considered chronically at risk—many of whom have experienced incarceration, parenting responsibilities, or academic failure.
The only charter application approved? KIPP Cordova Collegiate Elementary—a new start K–5 school proposed for Cordova, one of the city’s wealthiest communities and one already flush with education options. KIPP Memphis, Inc., the applicant, is backed by a national charter school network that has secured hundreds of millions of dollars in grants across the country.
This approval stands in stark contrast to the rejections handed to schools with clear missions to uplift the city’s most vulnerable children. Even more damning: Dream Catchers and Still I Rise were both approved to receive $750,000 startup grants from the Tennessee Department of Education—funds that are now inaccessible without local authorization.
“These schools met or exceeded the state’s rubric line by line,” said a member of the Shelby County Observer Education Committee. “The Charter Office’s claim that they failed to meet standards simply doesn’t hold water. This decision isn’t about quality—it’s about control.”
A Deeper Conflict of Interest?
The situation has only intensified scrutiny over the Memphis charter process, especially given that one of the schools most recently approved for renewal is the City University Charter School, operated by none other than the wife of the Interim Superintendent – Roderick Richmond. Despite operating for more than a decade, Richmond’s school has fewer than 16 students. Yet, it was quietly greenlit without controversy, raising serious questions about internal bias and favoritism.
“When the spouse of the interim superintendent can operate a tiny school with minimal students while proposals with hundreds of pages of vision and data for high-need youth are dismissed, it’s no longer just bad policy—it’s systemic inequity,” said a former MSCS school board member who asked to remain anonymous.
The Cordova Question
Cordova, the neighborhood chosen for KIPP’s newest venture, boasts high-performing public schools and affluent families. While no community should be denied quality education, the question must be asked: Does Cordova really need another well-funded charter school more than homeless youth in Orange Mound or students in the juvenile system in Hickory Hill?
The MSCS Charter School Office claims that decisions are based on the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) rubric and Board Policy 1011, which includes a “substantial negative fiscal impact” clause. But this logic seems weaponized. Charter schools like Still I Rise and Dream Catchers that pose minimal financial strain on the district and offer urgent, targeted solutions were rejected—while KIPP, backed by vast national funding, was embraced.
History Repeats: Head Start Debacle Reinforces Pattern of Mismanagement
This isn’t the first time MSCS has fumbled critical opportunities for underserved students. On July 21, 2025, just weeks after the charter rejections, news broke that the federal $30 million Head Start preschool grant had been awarded to Porter-Leath instead of MSCS.
The reason? Violations and incompetence. Head Start officials documented multiple failures by MSCS, including staffing shortages and safety violations. This led the Office of Head Start to put the program out for rebidding—a rare and embarrassing federal indictment of district leadership.
“You can’t keep blaming others when your own failures cost the district tens of millions of dollars in funding,” said an early education expert and charter consultant who wishes to remain anonymous. “If the state doesn’t step in soon, thousands more children will suffer.”
Mounting Case for State Takeover
Between the botched pre-K grant, the charter school bias, and allegations of conflicts of interest, the path toward a state takeover of MSCS is beginning to look inevitable.
Observers note that the Tennessee Department of Education has already expanded its oversight into charter school authorization and has increased scrutiny of low-performing districts. The consistent prioritization of schools with political or financial ties over those that serve the neediest children gives state education officials every reason to intervene.
Can the School Board Save Itself?
The Shelby County School Board must save itself from the shortsighted, and some argue deeply bureaucratic, missteps of its own Charter Schools Office. Where that office has chosen favoritism and procedural rigidity over student opportunity, the board must now choose vision. If it is to reclaim its moral and strategic compass, the board must assert its authority not merely as an administrative body but as a steward of justice for families whose children have too long been underserved—by supporting charter schools that help the most needy, not the most wealthy.
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