Tennessee House and Senate education committees passed the governor’s private-school voucher program Tuesday, speeding the $450 million first-year expense to final votes before week’s end.
Senators voted 8-1 to send the measure to the finance committee to be considered Wednesday.
Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin), carrying the bill for Gov. Bill Lee, told lawmakers the plan will “empower families to do something for their kid, fulfilling needs we’re not meeting with this public school system that we run together with our local folks.”
Johnson claimed a mandate to pass the measure from President Donald Trump, who posted on his Truth Social platform earlier that he supports Tennessee lawmakers’ efforts to adopt “school choice.”
Senate Republican Majority Leader Jack Johnson of Franklin said Tennessee lawmakers have a “mandate” from President Donald Trump to enact private school vouchers. (Photo: John Partipilo)
“It is our goal to bring education in the United States to the highest level, one that it has never attained before,” Trump said in his post.
Lee’s plan, which is zooming toward final votes in a special session this week, calls for providing more than $7,000 each to 20,000 students statewide and then expanding by about 5,000 annually. Half of those students in the first year could come from families with incomes at 300 percent of the federal poverty level, an estimated $175,000 for a family of four, while the rest would have no income limit. No maximum income would be placed on the program after the first year.
A financial analysis by the state’s Fiscal Review Committee determined K-12 schools will lose $45 million and that only $3.3 million would go toward 12 school districts most likely to lose students.
Senate Minority Leader Raumesh Akbari (D-Memphis) was the lone vote against the bill as she urged the committee to “exercise a bit more caution.” Akbari reminded senators that students participating in the state’s education savings account program, which provides vouchers to enroll in private schools in Davidson, Hamilton, and Shelby counties, are performing worse academically than their peers.
In contrast, Sen. Adam Lowe (R-Calhoun) said standardized tests shouldn’t be the deciding factor in passing the bill. Lowe also told Hawkins County Schools Director Matt Hixson he shouldn’t be worried about talk that some local leaders in upper East Tennessee believe they have to support the voucher bill or the legislature could refuse to approve $420 million for Hurricane Helene disaster relief.
The House panel endorsed the plan on a 17-7 vote after Republican lawmakers used a procedural move to bypass debate on the bill. Rep. Jake McCalmon (R-Williamson County) called for an immediate vote following public testimony, backed by Rep. William Slater (R-Sumner County). The move kept opponents from questioning the bill’s sponsor, House Majority Leader William Lamberth (R-Portland).
Rep. Gloria Johnson (D-Knoxville) called the move “ridiculous” afterward because of the impact the bill could have on public schools and the state’s budget.
In addition to complaining that the state will be running two school systems and likely hitting financial problems, Johnson challenged Lamberth’s assertion that the bill will make public schools “whole” when they lose students to the private-school voucher program.
Lamberth, though, said public schools would not lose “one red cent” as a result of the program.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Tennessee’s proficiency rate grew in eighth grade math, while the national average declined, according to the latest results from the Nation's Report Card. The gains position the state's middle schoolers to perform better in Algebra I, their first high school math class. (Photo by Allison Shelley for EDU)
This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters
Tennessee students held their ground on a major national test in a year when average student test scores declined nationwide.
Results from the 2024 National Assessment of Educational Progress, or NAEP, released Wednesday, show that average test scores in Tennessee increased slightly in fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math, compared with 2022, though the gains were not statistically significant.
Tennessee’s latest post-pandemic results stood in contrast to declines seen nationwide and in many other states. And Tennessee students scored three to four points higher than the national average in math and one to two points higher in reading.
“Tennessee students did well relative to other states, and we did better than some of our neighbors,” Education Commissioner Lizzette Reynolds said.
“We didn’t move backwards, we moved a little bit forward, and we expect to do better next year,” added state Rep. Mark White, of Memphis, who chairs a key House education committee and also serves on the NAEP governing board.
Math scores outpace reading scores.
Tennessee has launched numerous initiatives aimed at bolstering early literacy, but the latest NAEP showed the state’s most dramatic improvements came in math.
In fourth-grade math, 42 percent of students scored proficient or advanced, an increase of 6 percentage points from 2022. The state was one of 29 jurisdictions that posted scores similar to 2019, before the pandemic. Only Alabama had average scores higher than 2019. Nationwide, average scores are down three points, and 22 states had declines.
In eighth-grade math, Tennessee’s proficiency rate also grew, while the national average declined. Tennessee was one of just two jurisdictions with similar scores to 2019. Average scores dropped 9 points.
In fourth-grade reading, Tennessee was one of 47 states with no statistical change from 2022. Nonetheless, its scores were up slightly, whereas the nationwide average dropped by two points from 2022 and by five points from 2019.
The small increases in eighth-grade reading scores were not statistically different from 2022 or 2019, but again, the small increase stood in contrast to nationwide averages that dropped 5 points since 2019. Tennessee also saw more notable increases in scores among higher-performing students in the 75th percentile.
Credit: ChalkbeatTNCredit: ChalkbeatTN
The relatively strong showing in math, according to state officials, could be tied to the full return to in-person learning, which studies show is especially important for math instruction; Tennessee’s 2021 adoption of new math standards; and the subsequent rollout of math curriculum to align with those standards.
They expect that trend to continue with passage of a 2024 state law spotlighting more analysis of and support for math instruction.
Tennessee was an early adopter of pandemic-era interventions.
Tennessee has been held up as a model both for how it managed federal pandemic relief spending — quickly steering money into tutoring, summer learning camps, and after-school programs aimed at students who had fallen furthest behind — and for its intense focus on early literacy. State test results from 2024 show students there making steady progress since 2021.
The challenge now will be to maintain progress and deploy state funds to replace federal pandemic relief aid that expired last year.
“We still have that obligation at the state level to continue to support districts in as many ways as possible,” said Reynolds, the state’s education chief. She cited free professional development resources provided to school systems by her department as one example.
“Local school officials also knew that the money was ending, so they’ve been building in their own sustainability practices to keep the work going,” she said.
White, the state lawmaker and NAEP official, said the state’s controversial 2021 third-grade reading intervention and retention law was a key part of the mix. It pushed children whose families might have opted for summer breaks into summer learning programs and motivated schools to increase support for struggling readers.
“If a child is not reading proficiently in third grade, we want to really understand why and not just pass them on,” he said.
State officials already are digging into the latest NAEP data on how various student groups performed to study how they can offer better support.
Tennessee’s growing population of English-language learners saw across-the-board improvement, while students with disabilities showed slight decreases.
The alignment of national and state data is important, said Amy Owen, the state’s senior education policy director, because “it shows that our students will be able to compete with students from across the country when they look at post-secondary and career opportunities.”
“We’re seeing steady increases, which is significant when you think about where our kids were during COVID,” added Reynolds. “Our fourth graders were kindergartners then, our eighth graders were fourth graders.”
Memphis district opts out of separate NAEP assessment
Since 2018, NAEP has also released results for Memphis Shelby County Schools, one of roughly two dozen large urban districts participating in national math and reading tests through the Trial Urban District Assessment program, which is designed to help those districts measure student performance against districts in other large cities. But last year, leaders of the Memphis district chose not to participate in the program.
The lack of participation represented a “leadership breakdown” as the district cycled through superintendents.
— State Rep. Mark White (R-Memphis)
White, who represents part of Memphis, said the lack of participation represented a “leadership breakdown” as the district cycled through superintendents. “That’s sad that we don’t have their scores,” he said. “We can’t continue that trend.”
What is NAEP?
Not every Tennessee fourth-grader or eighth-grader took the national test when the federal government administered the assessments in early 2024.
NAEP tests a nationally representative sample of students in every state. In Tennessee, each of the four assessments was taken by about 1,700-1,800 students in 80-90 schools.
The results, published as the nation’s report card, allow comparisons across states and are an important marker for showing how students are doing over time.
The last three testing cycles happened in 2019, 2022, and most recently in 2024, providing an especially helpful comparison of what students knew before the pandemic and how much they have rebounded from COVID-related learning disruptions.
Erica Meltzer is Chalkbeat’s national editor based in Colorado. Contact Erica at emeltzer@chalkbeat.org.
Marta Aldrich is a senior correspondent and covers the statehouse for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Contact her at maldrich@chalkbeat.org.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
According to 2024’s “The Infinite Dial” report by Edison Research, 47 percent of the U.S. population, 12 and older, listened to at least one podcast in the span of a month, up 12 percent from the year before. What can we say? People like their podcasts. So much so that there are millions of them. We tried Googling the exact number but got bogged down in the AI of it all, so we landed at millions … or at least hundreds of thousands.
What we can say with certainty is that a decent number of podcasts are being created right here in Memphis. Check out what a few local podcasters had to say in this week’s cover story, and take a peek at the sidebar to discover even more podcasts to add to your playlist.
Verbally Effective
If there’s a go-to expert in podcasting in Memphis, it’s Ena Esco. She’s the host of Verbally Effective, innovator in residence at Cossitt Library, founder of the PodBox Memphis Podcast Festival, and the wearer of many more hats in this new media landscape.
With a background in radio since graduating from LeMoyne-Owen College in 2001, Esco started her podcast in 2018. “With radio, you only have so many minutes that you can have a conversation,” she says, “and I wanted to extend those conversations through podcasting. And so I wanted it to be a podcast that intersected art, culture, politics, entertainment, with a Memphis focus.”
Ena Esco, host of Verbally Effective (Photo: Courtesy Ena Esco)
Her Verbally Effective became home for just that, with each episode, over 300 in total, in conversation with a Memphis changemaker — from National Civil Rights Museum president Russell Wigginton to Grammy Award-winning Crystal Nicole to therapist Brandy J. Flynn. “You just never know what people have gone through to be where they are today,” she says, “and to hear their stories lets me know that the type of work that I’m doing with podcasting is important because I know that their stories will resonate with other people.”
Esco’s goal, she says, is to elevate voices, whether that’s in her own podcast or through helping others create theirs. “So much is going on right now, especially right now, with people trying to silence voices, but we can utilize the new media platforms to get our messaging across.”
“With podcasting, anything is on the table,” adds Esco. “In podcasting, you can create your own situation. You can format your show however you want to format your show. You can monetize. You can build relationships with people that you probably never would.”
After building her audience with Verbally Effective, Esco drew the attention of Memphis Public Libraries’ leadership and before too long became its first-ever innovator in residence, coordinating free podcast programming at Cossitt Library, developing workshops, curating panels and shows, and working with podcasters individually. In her nearly three years at Cossitt, Esco has helped podcasters in a gamut of genres, from sports to lifestyle to travel. “When you get [people] into podcasting, you’re really building up their confidence in making them a stronger speaker, a better storyteller,” she says. “It just gives me joy to see people transform in their way.”
For her work through the library system, Esco earned an honorable mention from the Urban Libraries Council Innovation Awards in 2024. “It was a big deal because it afforded [the Memphis Public Libraries] the opportunity to receive a grant to bring in more innovators [in other areas],” she says.
This coming year, Esco hopes to produce 10 podcasts, with a focus on community podcasting. “It’s going to be quite the undertaking,” she says.
Also in 2025, Esco will lead digital radio, podcasting, and TV broadcasting programming for the recently reopened Lowery Communication Center at LeMoyne-Owen College. “This is a full-circle moment for me because I started my media career as a senior, and now I’m back at my alma mater, seeing the students in this particular subject matter, so I’m just blessed. I am really blessed.”
In September, she’ll host the PodBox Memphis Podcast Festival, an annual event with industry experts, panels, mixers, and more. She’ll also host quarterly meetups with established and potential podcasters throughout the year.
Find Esco on social media @enaesco. Verbally Effective, in addition to being available for streaming, is aired on WXYR on Tuesdays at noon. — Abigail Morici
Cemetery Row
A deep and ominous bell tolls over the cold, lonely, windswept graveyard.
It’d be pretty scary, but the hosts of Cemetery Row are there to hold your hand and tell you it’s all okay. Then they start telling you the stories of some of the folks buried there and — before you know it, champ — you’re starting to have fun.
“Cemeteries are not scary places,” says Sheena Barnett, one of the podcast’s three hosts. “They’re not sad places. They can be, obviously if you’re going to where a loved one is buried. But I see them as places of love, places full of stories, places that need to be preserved.”
The sentiment is shared by hosts Lori Pope and Hannah Donegan. The trio of “spooky girls” met as Ole Miss journalism students, kept tight after school, and wanted to stay that way when Donegan moved to Chicago. Barnett volunteered at Elmwood Cemetery cleaning headstones and told the others about all the great stories out there. Cemetery Row became a way for them to connect and to hone their haunted proclivities.
Pope’s dad would tease her about “Rosie the ghost,” who was said to roam an old family cemetery on her grandparents’ farm. Barnett grew up on Unsolved Mysteries and going to cemeteries with her mother and grandmother. A “Jane Doe” headstone mystified a younger Donegan when seen in a graveyard in plain view of her Olive Branch Middle School.
That ominous bell really does toll to open each episode of Cemetery Row. The hosts introduce themselves, banter, connect, tell a few inside jokes, and they cuss … like a lot. The meat of the show, though, is true stories of the dead.
“Just like most people from history, she has parts of her life where she’s a total relatable badass, and then there’s parts where she kind of sucks a little bit,” Donagen says of occultist, ceremonial magician, and novelist Dion Fortune in an October episode called “Occultists, Psychics, and Cryptids.” “She was a rich, white lady in early 20th-century England. So, what are you gonna do?”
That episode also featured the stories of Simon Warner, a psychic and crime doctor, known as The Seer of Shelbyville (Tennessee), and some spooky tales from Idaho (a bit outside of the cemetery, strictly speaking, but right next door).
The hosts laugh, bomb each other with bon mots, and keep things casual. But they flex those journalism degrees in well-researched stories, written with a straight-ahead newspaper eloquence. Not every episode has a theme but some have featured athletes, LGBTQ folks, Black excellence, and more. One featured people named Dick.
Dial up Cemetery Row wherever you find podcasts. Pope, Doengan, and Barnett will have you skipping through the headstones in no time. — Toby Sells
Night Classy
Have you ever been curious about the deep intricacies of society that our history books never dreamed of covering? You know, like the 1950s quiz show scandal that unearthed rigging and resulted in congressional hearings? Or have you or a loved one been approached by a charming Nigerian prince who only needs your entire life savings to help him out? If you’re looking to dive more into his origin story (and the many ways he presents himself), or just looking to satiate your hunger for obscure knowledge, class is in session on the Night Classy podcast.
Hayley Madden and Katja Barnhart are two educators by day, taking their aptitude for knowledge from the classroom to the mic. Both women met through Teach For America (TFA) and bonded over The Office — facilitated by the “TFA experience,” which Madden explains is like an “extension of college.”
Katja Barnhart and Hayley Madden host Night Classy. (Photo: Alec Ogg)
Madden says the podcast was originally Barnhart’s idea, which she says stemmed from her “obsession” with podcasts, and after moving to a new place, this seemed like the perfect new hobby to take up. Barnhart remembers thinking, “This is it; this is going to be good.”
The podcast’s future was further solidified when Barnhart met her longtime boyfriend Alec Ogg, who’s a podcast producer by trade and offered to produce the podcast.
As a child, Madden says she liked to experiment with different things such as making mud pies and catching frogs. “Maybe not researching like I do now as an adult, but just getting into things is something I’ve always been into,” she adds.
Barnhart says she’s always been obsessed with history, always finding herself engrossed in historical fiction. She then found herself obtaining a history degree, but ended up teaching math.
“[I] didn’t really have an outlet to read about the kind of things I wanted to aside from my spare time, so the podcast has been a good way to scratch that itch,” Barnhart says.
During each episode, the hosts pick two stories that they’ve each researched with detailed notes about topics that can be defined as “oddities and curiosities you’ve never learned in school.” As they approach their 250th episode on their main feed, the ladies have covered brain eating amoebas, the lore of America’s Next Top Model, and the Ant Hill Kids Cult to name a few.
“It had to be something we wanted to research,” Madden says. “If it’s not fun on the front end, then it’s not going to be fun for us to actually do, execute, and listen to later.”
Barnhart also adds that they didn’t want to limit themselves to true crime, paranormal, and reality TV. While they’re interested in all of these things, diversifying their content keeps the experience fresh.
“I feel like if you have to read about it every single week, you’re going to hate it,” Barnhart explains. “We wanted options.”
“We were like, ‘What’s our hook?’” Madden adds. “Well, we’re teachers.” — Kailynn Johnson
Sonosphere
Sonosphere is more than just a podcast, and had been even before it became a radio show on WYXR (every Monday at 4 p.m.). More than most podcasts, perhaps, it was founded with a mission: fostering more appreciation of unconventional music in Memphis. As co-founder Amy Schaftlein says, the goal of Sonosphere was “highlighting the sort of experimental bands that don’t really fit into a genre, but have always brought intriguing and interesting sounds. Not everybody could tell if they liked or not. You know, like when you try a new food, you’re kind of like, ‘I don’t know if I like that.’ But you might start to like it a lot more as you try it in different ways.”
Realizing this would take more than a mere podcast, Schaftlein started the nonprofit Sonosphere Inc. with then-fellow president/CEO Christopher Williams in 2017, intent on programming live performances and lectures, music festivals, and audio documentaries. Thus, right from the beginning, Sonosphere the podcast had a parallel production series known as Sound Observations. “A lot of the Sound Observations series that we brought to Memphis back in 2017, ’18, and ’19 highlighted experimental artists like Wu Fei, who plays a very ancient Chinese instrument.”
Amy Schaftlein and Jenny Davis of Sonosphere (Photo: Amy Schaftlein)
At the time, Schaftlein says, Crosstown Arts had not yet leaned into the kind of adventurous programming that they’re now known for. But as Crosstown Arts evolved, with Memphis Symphony Orchestra flutist and Blueshift Ensemble member Jenny Davis taking on music programming for a time, there was less of a need for the Sound Observations series, and Sonosphere the podcast came to the fore. When Williams moved away, Schaftlein, after hosting solo for a while, thought that Davis would be the perfect partner.
“Jenny worked with Chris and I on our Sound Observations when she was at Crosstown Arts,” says Schaftlein. “And she also created the Continuum Fest [a local celebration of New Music and avant garde classical compositions], which she invited Sonosphere to ‘sponsor’ — which really meant we covered it for them — and we came up with some content for the fest. We’ve always worked with Jenny through Crosstown Arts, and so she’s been a part of the podcast, tangentially, for a while. And so it just seemed like a really good fit.”
This was also a good way for Davis to keep her hand in experimental music as she moved on to become the executive director of the Memphis Youth Symphony Program (MYSP). A recent episode of the podcast, for example, focused solely on last year’s Continuum Fest, staged at the Beethoven Club.
Meanwhile, the podcast evolved into a radio show when WYXR began broadcasting in October 2020. And while that slowed the podcast production a bit, it’s really all of a piece. Indeed, as Schaftlein says, “I actually worked for WEVL when I was in college and I had a show on the station. That’s part of what prompted Sonosphere. I really wanted a radio show on WEVL, and they took a while to get back to me, and so I just kind of started it. I was like, ‘We can do this from home!’ You know, podcasting was a thing. It wasn’t as big as now, but it was still a thing then. So we just went ahead and did it ourselves.” — Alex Greene
For your listening pleasure:
Astronomica Join a group of nerds as they crew the definitely-not-piloted-by-a-rogue-AI ship The Admiral Grace in a science-fiction OSR actual play podcast using the Stars Without Number RPG system.
Black Is America Dominic Lawson highlights little-known African-American figures and stories.
Champions of the Lost Causes Marvin Stockwell talks to folks across the country about their success and setbacks.
Got Points Podcast Ashling Woolley and Tiffani Denham teach listeners how to build up travel points quickly, how to keep a high bank of points, and how to use these points to maximize every benefit.
Grits and Grinds: Memphis Grizzlies Keith Parish covers the Grizzlies year-round with in-depth analysis.
Like You: Mindfulness for Kids Noah Glenn uses breathing, affirmations, music, and imagination to support social-emotional health and mental wellness for kids.
Memphis Flyer Video Podcast Oh, hello, that’s us! Each week, Chris McCoy and a co-host take you through the paper and give you insight into the madness that goes on at the Memphis Flyer.
The Permanent Record Just City’s podcast features conversations about the criminal justice system and how individuals can work to make it smaller, fairer, and better for everyone.
State and local groups are denouncing the recent distribution of racist flyers promoting white supremacy groups in Memphis.
The flyers have been seen around the city in the past few days, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and The NAACP Memphis Branch. They allegedly show anti-immigrant images and are similar to ones seen recently in other Tennessee cities, Ohio, and Virginia.
CAIR said one flyer promotes the Ku Klux Klan. Another promotes “another white supremacist group.” Such flyers for Patriot Front have recently surfaced in other areas.
Public images of the flyers online are scarce. Some that were posted on social media were removed for their content. This was the case for the Ludlow (Kentucky) Police Department that said, “after some discussion we have decided to take down the flyer because it serves no real purpose but we will keep this post up.”
“We are aware and have already taken one report for this disturbing and disgusting KKK propaganda that is being passed around our community,” the agency said on Facebook. “This hateful garbage has been turning up in other cities as well.”
One flyer from the KKK shows Uncle Sam kicking people with the phrase, “Leave now. Self deport.” Another shows Uncle Sam with his foot on a cage full of people with the same phrase and, “Americans on guard. Help us protect our homeland.”
The NAACP described the distribution of the flyers as “cowardly acts.” Those responsible party’s “attempt to divide us will not succeed.”
Credit: NAACP Memphis Branch
“These actions are deeply offensive to the values of equality, unity, and justice that our community hold dear,” said NAACP Memphis Branch president Kermit Moore. “The circulation of such vile propaganda under the name ‘The Ram of the Knights’ seeks to intimidate, sow fear, and divide our city at a time we must come together to address critical challenges and uplift one another.
“The reprehensible act reminds us of the ongoing presence of hatred and racism that we must confront and dismantle with unwavering resolve.”
The group asked local leaders and agencies to condemn the flyers and asked local police to investigate the matter.
CAIR has condemned similar racist and white supremacist activity in Tennessee and around the country in recent years. The group echoed the sentiment of the NAACP.
“This type of hate propaganda will not succeed in intimidating or dividing the communities of Memphis or any other American city,” said CAIR national communications director Ibrahim Hooper.
Community organizer Keedran Franklin (left) speaks at a Black Lives Matter rally in 2015. A federal order known as the Kendrick Consent Decree prohibits police from gathering political intelligence on activists engaged in lawful dissent. (Micaela Watts)
This story originally appeared on the Institute for Public Service Reporting Memphis website here.
Critics fear a judge’s decision last week will weaken a long-standing federal order that bans the Memphis Police Department (MPD) from spying on citizens.
The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Court Judge Jon McCalla modifies an order known as the Kendrick Consent Decree by replacing a private attorney who monitors police activities with two lawyers employed by the city of Memphis and assigned to the MPD.
The measure is endorsed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee (ACLU-TN), which successfully challenged MPD and the city of Memphis in federal court for illegally surveilling activists involved in protests against police abuse and other lawful dissent.
But Bruce Kramer, the lawyer who first sued the city in 1976 for MPD’s illegal political intelligence gathering, says the ruling is not in the public’s best interest.
Bruce Kramer
“It’s not as bad as putting the fox in charge of the hen house. But the history of this is that the city has never liked this consent decree and has wanted it to end. This is just one more step towards that process,” Kramer said.
Rev. Elaine Blanchard, an activist who was followed by police and placed on a “blacklist’’ that banned her and scores of others from entering Memphis City Hall without a police escort, said the development is worrisome.
“I don’t believe the police have changed any,” Blanchard said. “I feel that they need oversight. Not from within themselves, but from outside of themselves.”
City officials were not able to immediately respond to a request for comment.
McCalla’s ruling approved the “Kendrick Consent Decree Sustainment Proposal,” filed as a joint motion by ACLU attorney Stella Yarbrough, city outside counsel Bruce McMullen and independent monitor Ed Stanton, a former U.S. Attorney in Memphis now in private practice with the Butler Snow law firm.
The 15-page sustainment proposal emphasizes that Stanton’s 2018 appointment was never intended to be permanent but “was meant to be temporary.’’ It contemplates a transition period ending between July 1 and Sept. 30 when Stanton will be replaced by two compliance officers on the city’s payroll.
“During this transition period, the city will designate at least two employees to serve as Consent Decree Compliance Officers,’’ the proposal says. It recommends two staff attorneys to fill these roles: MPD legal advisors James Thomas and Rosalyn Dobbins.
“Additionally, the Chief of Police has authorized the designation of an additional member to assist the Compliance Officers. The ideal candidate for this position is a current MPD officer with a law degree who will serve at the direction of Ms. Dobbins and Mr. Thomas,’’ the proposal says.
As a safeguard, the proposal calls for the compliance officers to receive “oversight and guidance” from three outside subject matter experts. The proposal recommends three individuals already on Stanton’s monitoring team: Rachel Levinson-Waldman, managing director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program; David N. McGriff, former deputy commissioner and chief of staff of the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security; and Dr. Theron L. Bowman, a former Texas police chief and president and CEO of The Bowman Group police practice consultancy.
Judge McCalla’s ruling followed a hearing last week when the city, the ACLU, the monitor and the subject matter experts all expressed support for the proposal.
The Kendrick Consent Decree was first entered in 1978 and modified five years ago following new revelations that MPD was again spying on political activists.
The initial decree in 1978 followed revelations that MPD had set up a special unit that used a network of informants and direct police surveillance to gather information on civil rights and Vietnam War protestors and others engaged in lawful political dissent. Created at the height of the Cold War with direct assistance from the FBI, MPD’s Domestic Intelligence Unit was one of a number of police “Red Squads” established across the U.S. in the 1950s and ’60s when many Americans feared the country was vulnerable to communist insurrection.
The unit was exposed after a Vietnam War veteran learned police were keeping a file on his personal and political activities, prompting legal intervention by Kramer and the ACLU in 1976. A judge issued the Kendrick Consent Decree two years later after finding MPD routinely violated First Amendment guarantees protecting free speech and peaceful assembly.
Activist Theryn C. Bond signs her name to a list at a rally at Memphis City Hall in 2017 protesting a “blacklist” created by city officials that designated number of activists, journalists, and critics of Memphis police as threats to public safety. (Micaela Watts)
In 2017, the public learned that MPD was surveilling a new generation of activists after The Commercial Appeal first reported evidence of a “blacklist” that included Blanchard and other private citizens who had no prior interactions with the criminal justice system. Blanchard and three others sued the city, and the ACLU intervened as a plaintiff.
The resulting federal investigation exposed additional digital surveillance that MPD used on activists and journalists who reported on local government.
In 2020, Judge McCalla sided with the ACLU, approving a binding agreement that established new ground rules for the use of surveillance technology. MPD would have to operate within these revamped guidelines under the watch of Stanton and a monitoring team, McCalla ruled.
Kramer said Stanton and the monitoring team “have done a fine job.” But he worries that the two city-employed compliance officers won’t have the same view.
“They’re only going to see what the city wants to give them. It’s not the same as having a real advocate or adverse party reporting deficiencies,” Kramer said.
The proposal approved by Judge McCalla creates a “transition period” that will begin immediately. Stanton will stay on board to evaluate the current duties Dobbins and Thomas already have with MPD and whether they have the capacity to take on the newly created roles.
Following completion of the transition period, a “sustainment period” will begin and run for as long as 24 months. However, the city could move to terminate the sustainment period after 18 months, effectively ending oversight.
Kramer is betting they will.
McCalla could deny what Kramer feels is an inevitable request from the city, but Kramer asks, “Who’s going to contest it? With all respect to the ACLU, which covers the entire state, this isn’t at the top of their priority list.”
Stanton could not be reached for comment. Prior to Wednesday’s ruling, ACLU attorney Yarbrough issued a statement to the Institute for Public Service Reporting acknowledging the eventual conclusion of outside monitoring.
“While the consent decree remains in effect to safeguard free speech rights, the ACLU-TN, the city, and the Independent Monitor will continue to ensure the city’s compliance,” Yarbrough wrote. “The conclusion of outside monitoring in the coming year reminds us that the work of protecting Memphians’ First Amendment rights is ongoing.”
The items proposed for Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee’s special session, scheduled to start next week, carry a price tag of nearly $917 million, with his school voucher plan alone costing $424 million in its first year.
The session is set to only cover three major issues: Lee’s school vouchers, relief for Hurricane Helene victims in East Tennessee, and readying the state to conform to President Donald Trump’s immigration plan, which could include mass deportations.
A proposed law to pay for all of it (called an appropriations bill) has been filed in the Tennessee General Assembly ahead of the session to start Monday. Check it out here:
Here’s a basic breakdown of the costs from the bill:
Education Freedom Scholarships (aka the school voucher plan)
• $225.8 million every year
• $198.4 million just this year
• Total: $424.2 million
Hurricane Helene response:
• $210 million for the Hurricane Helene fund and the Governor’s Response and Recovery Fund
• $240 million for TEMA disaster relief grants
• $20 million to rebuild Hampton High School in Carter County
• $6.2 million for affected schools in Tourism Development Zones
• $17 million for incentives for school systems to get more than half of their schools to get an “A” letter grade
The spending bill does not propose spending any money (yet) on Trump’s immigration enforcement plan.
Also interesting is that the bill pays for the special session itself. But no price tag was flashed on that one. Instead, it vaguely covers the whole thing.
“In addition to any other funds appropriated by the provisions of this act, there is appropriated a sum sufficient to the General Assembly for the sole purpose of payment of any lawful expenses, including, but not limited to, staffing, per diem, travel, and other expenses, of the First Extraordinary Session of the One Hundred Fourteenth General Assembly,” reads the bill.
So, Tennesseans are footing the bill for legislators to return to Nashville (travel), eat and drink while they are there (per diem), pay their staff members to help them, and pay for any other “lawful” expense lawmakers may have while conducting Lee’s business.
The Memphis In May World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest (MIM) is adding steak to its competition list with a top prize of $3,000.
MIM announced the addition of the Steak Cookout Competition Thursday morning. It’s a partnership with the Steak Cookout Association and a first for MIM.
“For 47 years now, the World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest teams have continued to bring excitement and immense competition during the Memphis in May International Festival celebration,” said Mack Weaver, MIM president and CEO. “We are thrilled to partner with the Steak Cookoff Association (SCA) to expand opportunities for our teams to earn more cash and notoriety.”
The total purse for the steak contest is $6,000. The prize money is broken down like this:
• 1st place – $3,000
• 2nd place – $1,500
• 3rd place – $1,000
• 4th place – $500
Winners also earn an automatic entry into the Steak Cookoff Association World Championship in Fort Worth, Texas.
“It’s long been a goal of ours to have an SCA Cookoff at Memphis in May,” said SCA founder Ken Phillips. “The cooks and judges are very excited about the opportunity. I look forward to a long and successful collaboration.”
The Steak Cookoff Competition will take place during the Memphis in May International Festival on Thursday, May 15, 2025, at Liberty Park. Cost for teams to compete is $150.
Buoyed by President Donald Trump’s plan for mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, Tennessee’s governor is proposing to fund an immigration enforcement bureau that could take on deportation authority to remove people from the country.
In a proclamation calling a special session to start January 27, Governor Bill Lee detailed creation of a central immigration agency with enforcement powers and a closer relationship with U.S. courts, and possible use of state courts, to remove undocumented people. Lee’s plan establishes a fund to pay for the agency, but he has not given a cost estimate.
Under current law, federal authorities handle immigration law, in some instances working with local law enforcement. But this move would give the state wider latitude to enforce those laws, especially in conjunction with a federal court dealing with immigrants accused of “terrorism.”
The state’s attempt to do the federal government’s bidding sets a dangerous precedent for all of us and our constitutional rights.
– Lisa Sherman Luna, Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition
Lisa Sherman Luna, executive director of the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, said Tuesday state and local processes are handled separately from federal immigration matters.
“The state’s attempt to do the federal government’s bidding sets a dangerous precedent for all of us and our constitutional rights,” Sherman Luna said.
Lt. Governor Randy McNally said Tuesday even though no bill has been filed, he supports including immigration in the governor’s call for a special session.
“President Trump has made clear he intends to reverse the Biden illegal immigration invasion immediately,” McNally said. He added that undocumented immigrants with felonies and criminal records need to be removed quickly.
Lee has confirmed he would activate the National Guard to take on Trump’s plan to deport “criminals” without citizenship status. Trump, though, has mentioned removing up to 18 million people without documentation and revoking birthright citizenship, which is guaranteed under the Fourteenth Amendment to people born in the country regardless of their parents’ immigration status, as well as children born abroad to U.S. citizens. Twenty-two states filed suit Monday to stop his effort to end birthright citizenship.
Trump declared a national emergency for the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, the day of his inauguration, enabling him to deploy armed forces such as National Guard troops, set up more barriers, complete a wall, and allow for unmanned air surveillance. Tennessee has sent its troops to the border multiple times already.
The order also allows the Insurrection Act of 1807 to be invoked, granting the president authority to use troops against Americans involved in civil disorder or rebellion.
A separate executive order he signed Monday stopped some legal forms of immigration, including humanitarian parole for nationals from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, and ended the use of an app for migrants to make appointments with asylum officers.
Under Lee’s plan, in addition to establishing an immigration agency, the state would have the ability to penalize local government officials that adopt sanctuary city policies. Sanctuary city policies, which limit the sharing of information with federal authorities, are illegal in Tennessee.
The proclamation also calls for revising state-issued IDs to determine a person’s immigration status for voting rights and government services. Rep. Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) is sponsoring a measure requiring financial institutions to check the immigration status of anyone attempting to send money out of the country.
Rep. Gino Bulso, R-Brentwood, is sponsoring a measure requiring financial institutions to check the immigration status of anyone attempting to send money out of the country. (Photo: John Partipilo)
The immigration enforcement plan will be considered during the special session at the same time lawmakers take up the governor’s private-school voucher plan, Hurricane Helene relief for eight East Tennessee counties and establishment of the Tennessee Transportation Financing Authority to help deliver public-private road construction projects. The state is working on a toll lane along I-24 from Nashville to Murfreesboro as part of an act the legislature approved in 2023.
Several immigration-related bills are sponsored, including one by Senator Shane Reeves (R-Murfreesboro) that requires the Department of Safety and Homeland Security to study the enforcement of federal immigration laws, detentions and removals, as well as state investigations and immigrant-related challenges and progress.
Another measure by Representative Todd Warner (R-Chapel Hill) requires law enforcement agencies to communicate with federal officials about the immigration status for people arrested for a criminal offense.
A bill by state Representative Gino Bulso (R-Brentwood) requires financial institutions to verify the immigration status of a person sending funds outside the United States.
State Senator Todd Gardenhire (R-Chattanooga) is sponsoring a bill that would exempt undocumented immigrant students who otherwise would be reported by local authorities to federal immigration officials for deportation. A law passed in 2024 requires local law enforcement to tell federal immigration agents the immigration status for anyone arrested for a criminal offense.
Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com.
Memphis-Shelby County Schools Superintendent Marie Feagins engages with students during a visit to Grandview Heights Elementary School in April 2024, soon after she took the job. (Ariel J. Cobbert for Chalkbeat)
Marie Feagins was fired Tuesday as superintendent of Memphis-Shelby County Schools, setting the district back to where it has been repeatedly in recent years: searching for leadership.
A bitterly divided school board voted 6-3 to oust Feagins less than 10 months into her tenure, approving a resolution that cited allegations of professional misconduct and poor leadership.
Feagins, a former Detroit school administrator hired by a previous board to lead Tennessee’s largest school district after a prolonged and problem-plagued search, vehemently denied any wrongdoing. She described herself as a target of “false accusations and political maneuvering.”
Board chair Joyce Dorse Coleman introduced the resolution to fire Feagins and was joined in voting “yes” by members Stephanie Love, Natalie McKinney, Sable Otey, Towanna Murphy, and Keith Williams. Michelle McKissack, Tamarques Porter, and Amber Huett-Garcia voted no.
Feagins declined to answer questions from Chalkbeat as she departed the meeting, instead offering her congratulations to Richmond.
In a statement issued later Tuesday night through a public relations firm, Dorse Coleman said Feagins “has not demonstrated the transformational leadership that is critical to the success” of the Memphis district.
“At this pivotal moment, we need a transformational leader who will collaborate effectively with the Board and respect governance protocols, keeping students at the center of every decision,” she said.
The board will hold a news conference at noon Thursday at the district’s central office, the statement said.
After a tense and at times chaotic special meeting Tuesday night, the board approved a resolution Dorse Coleman first introduced Dec. 17 to fire Feagins. The resolution claims that Feagins:
Failed to provide evidence of her statement that district employees were paid $1 million in overtime for time not worked.
Accepted a donation of more than $45,000 without board approval, then misrepresented what happened.
Misled the board and public about a federal grant and its missed deadline.
Feagins’ hiring was supposed to bring stability and rebuild trust after a turbulent 18-month superintendent search, and as the district navigated serious academic and financial challenges, including possible school closures. Instead, months of simmering tension between Feagins and the majority of board members led to a hasty divorce with potentially significant ramifications.
If the decision amounts to a firing for cause the board would avoid paying Feagins in severance — it was estimated at $487,500 as of last month — but potentially open itself up to other costs if Feagins pursues legal action. Feagins began work last April on a four-year contract that was to pay her $325,000 annually.
Lawmakers concerned about the prospect of Feagins being fired also were poised to take action.
Huett-Garcia and community members who spoke during Tuesday’s public comment period raised the specter of greater state intervention to warn board members against voting to fire Feagins.
A long line of speakers come to Feagins’ defense
More than two-dozen speakers — including teachers, alumni, and community organizers — lined up during public comment to support Feagins and criticize the attempt to oust her.
Among them was state Rep. Justin Pearson (D-Memphis), who drew national attention in 2023 after Republicans expelled him from office over his participation in a disruption at the state capitol. Pearson, who was quickly reappointed and then reelected to office, called the process targeting Feagins unfair and urged the board to “slow down.”
Pearson used sharper language in an interview with Chalkbeat, calling the process “horrendous.”
“I got expelled in an unjust and unfair way,” he said. “I know what it looks like and that’s what’s happening now.”
The meeting grew heated when the board’s outside counsel, Robert Spence, said his review found the allegations against Feagins were true. McKissack interjected, accusing Spence of acting like he was in a courtroom giving “Perry Mason editorializing.” Dorse Coleman threatened to “clear the room” repeatedly as audience members booed and heckled.
When the room quieted, Spence said Feagins violated her contract and deviated from board policy, and that she exhibited a pattern of untruthful statements. The board then voted to release Spence’s lengthy report to the public, although it was not released immediately.
Before voting to terminate Feagins’ contract, the board rejected a counterproposal from board member Huett-Garcia to keep Feagins and attempt to repair her relationship with the board. Under that resolution, Feagins would have had to provide monthly updates to the board, and board members would have been required to complete board governance training.
Even the superintendent’s most vocal board supporters said Feagins bore some responsibility for the deterioration of her relationship with the board since she started.
Still, McKissack pleaded with her colleagues to listen to community members and adopt the counterproposal to retain Feagins, which she described as fair and balanced.
“We can hit the reset button on all of this,” she said. “We absolutely can do this together.”
It was clear last month that at least five board members were inclined to sever ties with Feagins. But Dorse Coleman hit pause, casting the deciding vote on a proposal to delay the discussion until this month to allow for more deliberation and a response from Feagins.
During a board committee meeting last week, Feagins shared a point-by-point response to the allegations against her. She said some school board members presented misleading and false information, calling the effort to fire her “politically motivated” and vowing not to resign.
Board member McKinney leveled additional allegations at the committee meeting, accusing Feagins of “a pattern of failed leadership” and citing graduation issues, inadequate staffing, and cutting student support systems.
That prompted McKissack to say some of her peers were “hell-bent” on dismissing Feagins, and Huett-Garcia said McKinney was “crossing the line of governance.”
When it came time to finally vote on the resolution to fire Feagins at Tuesday’s special meeting, the discussion was more procedural than emotional. The board members in favor of ousting her did not make speeches explaining their vote. The roll call was taken, and the votes were tallied.
“The resolution was adopted,” Dorse Coleman said. “Thank you.”
Superintendent drama has been running for more than two years
A different board took a markedly different approach in parting ways with Joris Ray, who resigned in August 2022 in the midst of a board-ordered outside investigation over claims that he abused his power and violated district policies. That board approved an agreement that gave Ray a severance package equivalent to 18 months’ salary — about $480,000. The agreement also ended the investigation into Ray before any findings were made public.
District administrator Toni Williams then took over as interim superintendent. She went back and forth on applying for the job on a permanent basis, and ultimately withdrew from consideration. The district restarted its national search in June 2023, after the board agreed on a fresh set of job qualifications and criteria. That eventually led to Feagins’ hiring.
Feagins lasted just 110 days in the role, or less than one-fifth as long as Williams served as interim superintendent.
Before coming to Memphis, Feagins was an official in the Detroit Public Schools Community District, which, by contrast, has experienced a long period of leadership stability under Superintendent Nikolai Vitti.
One of Feagins’ harshest critics in recent weeks has been board member McKinney, who unseated then-board Chair Althea Greene as District 2’s representative in the August 2024 school board election after campaigning as an advocate of leadership change. She signaled in her campaign that she would emphasize communication and community involvement, telling Chalkbeat: “Family and community engagement must be meaningful, genuine, inclusive, and responsive to truly support our students.”
Memphians are “tired of watching their students graduate but not be prepared for postsecondary opportunities,” McKinney said on election night. “At some point we have to decide who will be responsible for this. If things haven’t worked under that leadership, it’s time to try something new.”
McKinney was one of four newly elected board members last year. But Feagins’ board opposition included a mix of veteran and new board members: Dorse Coleman, Williams, and Love joined with McKinney and two other newcomers, Murphy and Otey. The other newly elected board member, Porter in District 4, sided with Feagins, along with McKissack and Huett-Garcia.
As the meeting room emptied Tuesday night, Overton High School Spanish teacher Noah Nordstrom said he felt shocked, heartbroken, and betrayed by the vote to fire Feagins.
Nordstrom, 26, said he fears ripple effects in classrooms, with teachers returning to a feeling of low motivation that was prevalent before the superintendent position was filled.
“For the last year under Dr. Feagins there’s been this new hope, this new sense of motivation, like our district is going somewhere,” Nordstrom said. “And now it feels like we’re going back.”
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools.
This image of Bass Pro Shops at the Pyramid was just too good not to share. Memphis Memes 901 titled it “the beautiful, snow-capped mountains of Tennessee.”
Records Request
Posted to Facebook by Steve Mulroy
Shelby County District Attorney Steve Mulroy fulfilled a “burdensome” records request from state Sen. Brent Taylor recently. Taylor, of course, is seeking Mulroy’s ouster from the job during the legislative session this year.
The request included 4,000 documents, 16,000 pages, six boxes, and more than 150 staff hours to complete, Mulroy said. “Things like this are a distraction from the real work that our office has to do. But we will fully cooperate with legislators.”
GIF Level
Posted to Reddit by u/Melodic-Frosting-443
Reddit user Melodic-Frosting-443 took the Memphis-Shelby County Schools situation to GIF level with a photo of the board surrounding Marie Feagins, overlaid with Stealers Wheel lyrics, “Clowns to the left of me, jokers to the right …” (You could see it above. But we’re not The Daily Prophet.)
