Reasons Behind the Merger of Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools

Before 2013, Memphis City Schools was a school district separate from Shelby County Schools. Then, in 2013 Memphis City Schools chose to give up its charter and join Shelby County Schools due to funding problems. The newly merged Shelby County School district only had one year together until the schools that used to make up Shelby County Schools, like Germantown and Arlington, broke away into their own separate municipalities. From the beginning, legacy Shelby County Schools was against the merger and tried to find legal ways to stop the merger. It was widely known that legacy Shelby County Schools received A’s on the state reports while legacy Memphis City received F’s on the state report. Legacy Shelby County parents claimed that they did not want legacy Memphis City bringing down their child’s school system. But what many parents did not know is that on the state report, the difference between an A and an F was only 10-15 points. So although the two schools systems did receive different grades, they were performing at practically the same rate.

            There are many reasons legacy Memphis City Schools wanted to merge with legacy Shelby County Schools. One reason was money. The citizens of Memphis were paying two separate taxes for education, one for Memphis City and one for Shelby County. The citizens of Memphis did not want to pay two separate taxes on education anymore.  Also, the city of Memphis gave up its charter and decided not to pay for legacy Memphis City Schools anymore. So the only option for legacy Memphis City Schools to have funding was to merge with the county. Finally, many people felt that having two schools systems, one majority black and another majority white, was an example of modern segregation. Many proponents of the merger saw the one combined school system as a way to get rid of the modern segregation. Many believe that legacy Shelby County Schools used the fact that legacy Memphis City Schools was failing as an excuse not to combine schools s fought the merger because the parents of legacy Shelby County did not want their children to be systems. Many believe the real reason legacy Shelby County parents fought the merger is that they did not want their children apart of the same school system as black, poor children. I believe it was a little of both. I believe that legacy Shelby County parents were worried for their children but did not think of the children in Memphis whose schools lost their funding. I believe that many legacy Shelby County parents were concerned for their children’s education if Memphis city merged but I also believe that there was a racist component as well.