City Schools: A New Captain For A Sinking Ship?

It is rather disappointing, although not surprising, to hear in the local Memphis media that the Memphis City Schools board is already searching for a new superintendent. Given the diminishing tax base, crumbling physical plants and racial isolation of the city district, some progressives undoubtedly hoped that the board would consider a referendum on abolition of the city district. Such an election would only be open to voters who lived within Memphis, and if the voters there agreed to abolish the Memphis City Schools, by law Shelby County would be required to assume control of all public education for the city and the suburbs. This is exactly what is needed. Our metropolitan region has no future unless we end the isolation of Black children in segregated, underfunded, inner-city schools. There is little chance that Memphis' tax base will improve, and little chance that whites will begin to move back into Memphis. Even if they do, there's little likelihood of white parents sending their children to Memphis' public schools. Only the assumption of control by the county school board can improve the educational system for all of our area's youth.