Shelby County Commission to vote on term limits for school board members
by: Alex Coleman
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The Shelby County Commission may decide which Memphis-Shelby County School Board members’ terms could be cut in half next year.
“The State wanted to toss it back to hear us locally, but I think that’s the opposite of what the people, and some of us commissioners were screaming, for we wanted outside intervention to help,” said Amber Mills, Shelby County Commissioner.
Commissioner Mills says the Shelby County Commission needs to create its advisory board.
“There has to be some kind of intervention. Something needs to change, and there has to be something with teeth to it to create the change,” said Mills. “As we saw, Dr. Feagins was making the changes that needed to be changed. They were not easy, but they were making the change.”
“I don’t think we should directly need to oversight another elected body. I believe that we need to work together in a better way, being a funding body of that body to make sure that we’re doing what’s in the best interest of the children,” said Charlie Caswell, Shelby County Commissioner.
Under a new law passed by Tennessee lawmakers, the Shelby County Commission will have the authority to limit the terms for Memphis Shelby County School Board members.
If the commissioners decide to sync the elections with the county ballot, they would place all of the nine MSCS seats on a 2026 ballot, including those school board members who were just elected last year.
Mills says that this will be a litmus test for Shelby County, and the school board members who were elected did exactly the opposite of what the majority of the people wanted.
She questions if the new board will be putting recent people back in office, or will they have to pay at the ballot box for not listening to their constituents.
Commissioner Caswell says it is unfair that Tarques Porter, a school board member who didn’t vote to keep Dr. Marie Feagins, might be one of the board members people want kicked off.
The five MSCS board members elected in 2024 who could have their terms cut in half are Natalie McKinney, Stephanie Love, Tamarques Porter, Sable Otey, and Towanna Murphy.
WREG will keep you posted on the Shelby County Commission’s decision regarding the 20-26 election.
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