Kandace Thomas, who was with the Irving Harris Foundation in Chicago for the last 13 years, will start work April 1 at the Memphis organization that oversees funding for early education initiatives.

Sabbatical program in Chicago is designed to help clergy, others access how to make an impact in what McGraw calls the "final quarter." 

Steve Canavero is working with the newly created Tennessee Public Charter School Commission. He led a similar charter initiative in Nevada. Tennessee's 118 charter schools are mostly in Shelby County.

Brad Leon is the seventh SCS leader to resign since Joris Ray took the district helm last January.

If all the schools are approved, they eventually would enroll about 2,100 students, which would make a small dent in the district’s need for 44,000 more “high-quality” seats in various neighborhoods, according to the Shelby County Schools’ analysis.

The company’s goal is to have 50,000 students signed up this year and 750 to 1,000 businesses. The business side launches on Feb. 6.

The Shelby County Commission initially appointed Kevin Woods to the school board in 2011 as plans for merging city and county school systems got underway.

Gov. Bill Lee's $40.9 billion budget for fiscal 2020-21 includes $41 million for a STEM building at the University of Memphis to replace an outdated building.

Shelby County Schools started universal screening this year as a more equitable way to select students for its gifted programs. In the first round of testing, 600 students were newly identified as gifted.

Germantown Education Foundation named a former Germantown Municipal School District teacher who also taught in legacy Shelby County Schools as its next executive director. 

A Lausanne Collegiate School eighth grader will represent Shelby County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

The decision by the Shelby County School board means about 2,800 students will not have to find another school to attend in the fall.

Getting high-quality private schools to sign on is viewed as crucial to the success of the education savings account program, which will launch with up to 5,000 students zoned for Shelby County Schools, Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools, and the state-run Achievement School District.

Shelby County Schools board members heard arguments from district staff and from Memphis Business Academy Middle, Memphis College Preparatory Elementary and Veritas College Preparatory ahead of a Jan. 28 vote to renew their 10-year contracts.

Student enrollment at the district’s 57 charter schools is up nearly 14%, to about 18,250 students. That means the share of Shelby County Schools students attending a charter school rose to 16%.

The new hires are expected to further expand the influence of organizations advocating for education policies such as vouchers and charter schools. 

District staff recommended against re-upping operating agreements for Veritas College Preparatory, Memphis College Preparatory Elementary and Memphis Business Academy Middle.

Across Shelby County Schools district, 600 more students in kindergarten through second grade are starting in the district’s gifted education program, known as CLUE, which stands for Creative Learning in a Unique Environment. Another 600 older students are waiting for additional state testing to see if they qualify.

Three-day competition will give participants a look inside the design industry while learning about teamwork and giving to charitable causes.

Likely to lead the 2020 agenda will be proposals to improve students’ reading skills and increase teacher compensation, two needs that most every lawmaker can agree on.

The lowest-paid workers at the University of Memphis are to get two raises this year, bringing them to $13 an hour.

State Rep. Mark White says charter schools in the Achievement School District should be under the charter commission, but state Rep. Antonio Parkinson says all 30 schools should return to local districts in Memphis and Nashville.

All 30 schools under the state's Achievement School District would return to their local school districts by 2022, but the process and details of such a transition remain unclear. 

A legal challenge by Shelby County Schools and Metropolitan Nashville Public Schools pits Tennessee’s two largest districts against the state over whether it allocates enough money to provide an adequate education to urban students who live in poverty, have special needs, or come from non-English-speaking homes. 

Since 1992, $1.7 million has been awarded to 69 educators in Tennessee via the Milken Educator Awards.