C O V E R S T O R Y
Do you think your experience on the Memphis
and Shelby County Schools Boards prepared
you to serve on the Memphis City Council?
Yes, the experience prepared me immensely.
Remember, our school budget was larger than the
City of Memphis budget. Through that I
experience, I have learned how to read, analyze,
and oversee budgets totaling more than 1.5 billion
dollars. I have documented experience in the
legislative process of developing policies (laws)
for the jurisdiction of the system and oversight. I
sponsored the following resolutions while on the
school board that survived the merger,
•Local preference policy
•Middle school mentoring program, CONNECT
•Memphis City Schools Foundation, now
SchoolSeed, and
•Literacy in Faith-based Training Program (LIFT).
I successfully served as chair of the Board in 2004
and 2007 and served and/or chaired the following
committees,
• Policy Committee
• Prevailing Wages Commission
• Personnel Committee
• Budget Committee
• Needs Assessment
• Capital Improvements
• Superintendents Search Committee
During my tenure, I was designated as a Master
Schools Boardman’s and completed the Broad’s
Reform Governance in Action a two-year training
program. I am a friend of education and a former
teacher. It prepared me to make tough decisions in
the best interest of our communities, analytical,
compassionate, and accessible. As your Memphis
City Council Vice Chairwoman, I continue to
fight for safe communities, economic
development in the form of more jobs with living
wages, a systematic approach to increasing the
middle class, and strategic budget planning and
departmental audits to ensure that we are getting
the most out of our tax dollars.
Do you think the surrendering of the Memphis
City Schools charter had any impact on your
candidacy for City Council District 3 when you
ran for the position three years ago?
Yes, of course! While serving on the Memphis
City Schools Board of Education, I listened to my
constituents via town hall meetings, PTA/PTSA
meetings, graduation ceremonies, honors
ceremonies, and public comments at the Board
meetings. In a community that has the highest per
capita income and the highest level of education
of African Americans in the State of Tennessee, an
overwhelming majority shared with me that they
no longer wanted to pay dual taxes for education
and Tennessee Code Annotated (T.C.A.) states
that the county is responsible for funding
education. According to T.C.A. Section 49-2-502,
the citizens of Memphis were required to
participate in a referendum (vote for or against the
merger) to accomplish the goal of one educational
system with one tax assessed for education.
According to the Shelby County Election
Commission, 75.2% of the voter’s in District 3
voted to transfer the administration of Memphis
City Schools to the Shelby County Board of
Education (laymen’s terms one school district or
single-source funding). In my mind, their vote
was a mandate by the community that I
represented. What more can you ask of your
elected official; other than to represent YOUR
voice. The voters listened and elected me to the
school board on October 8th that year. I
wholeheartedly believe in the democratic process.
The MCS Board along with the citizens of
Memphis/Shelby County successfully moved our
children from a special school district in financial
jeopardy with no accountability as demonstrated
by the Memphis City Council’s decision to
discontinue the funding of education into a county
system responsible for education by law.