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Former Shelby County Commissioner Britney Thornton says she’s part of a generation of students failed by Memphis-Shelby County Schools.
Thornton went to a public elementary school in Orange Mound, but her mom sent her to private middle and high school after determining that many students at local schools weren’t succeeding.
“I still, to this day, have deep resentment, because why wasn’t my neighborhood K-12 school pattern an option?” Thornton told Chalkbeat.
Thornton served on the county commission for four years. She was the sole Democrat to vote in favor of accountability measures for the MSCS school board. It started with her January 2025 vote of no confidence after the sudden ousting of former superintendent Marie Feagins. And in May, Thornton once again crossed party lines to vote against a proposal to fund MSCS’ ongoing lawsuit challenging the state takeover.
“I feel like voting my conscience was pissing off the status quo,” she said.
So, Thornton didn’t run for reelection for her District 10 commission seat, and instead recently joined Memphis Lift, a parent group that supports the state takeover, as its chief of staff.
Memphis Lift has long advocated for a state-appointed oversight board to take control of MSCS. After being stalled for months, a judge ordered last Thursday that the board could begin its work as the lawsuit continues.
Thornton prides herself on “siding with the people” in all of her commission votes.
“Staying under current control is a guarantee that nothing is going to change,” she said.
For more from Thornton on the changes she wants for MSCS students, see Chalkbeat’s Q&A below.
In her comments, she criticized the lack of a strategy to address deferred school maintenance costs; in February, the MSCS board approved closing up to 10 schools in the next two years due to underenrollment and facility issues. Thornton also said most prekindergarten students enter kindergarten unprepared; the pre-K provider for Memphis reported this year that around 40% of students weren’t meeting kindergarten readiness standards.
The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.
This is Chalkbeat Tennessee’s latest Q&A with MSCS leaders and education advocates. Read previous installments from the new school board leaders here and from a former school board member turned county commissioner here.
How, specifically, has the local MSCS school board failed in your opinion?
Let’s just put on my hat as a commissioner, where we babysit deferred maintenance. I watched that figure go from $700 million to a billion-plus in my time. It’s not going downward, and there is no plan to remediate it.
Teacher vacancies are also a huge thing. I visited all 33 K-12 schools in District 10, and what I noted, particularly at the high schools, was the over reliance on substitute teachers. The kids just had these computers that they’re expected to do their coursework on. And one student that I was talking to, he was also two months behind on his lessons and a couple months from graduating. Guess what? He graduated.
Student performance — that’s the biggest one. What always revs my engine is the matriculation data for pre-K to kindergarten. The majority of our matriculating pre-K students are underperforming going into kindergarten. They’re off track when they set out to start their journey. That does not autocorrect.
What could the state actually do differently?
The school board is drowning in the fact that the state can’t stand Shelby County. So that means that any possible pathway for additional funding has been blocked.
But now you’re seeing that because the state has been in a position to appoint, they’re opening up resources. They’re putting a million dollars behind the newly appointed board. Now we are in a position to actually unlock state resources. So that gets me excited.
One of the critiques of the appointed board is that it won’t be held accountable to the people. But you’ve said that the elected board isn’t really being accountable to the people either. What do you mean?
I’m saying at this point, who are we defending? It is very clear to me that Shelby County is being targeted compared to other underperforming counties.
But what concerns me more is seeing people who look like me settling for the same outcomes of the past under oppressors. The current school board, the lack of professionalism that has run rampant — that’s not lost to the public.
But when I think about the state board, I see that we have a full-time philanthropist, Shanea McKinney. I see that we have the former president of the [Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce]. I’m thinking about Tyrone Burroughs, with decades of successful entrepreneurial experience. So I’m seeing the capacity of this body to activate.
Do you think MSCS should drop its lawsuits against the state takeover?
I understand that we have to fight for democracy, to show that there was always resistance and that we’re not just bending over and letting people treat us how they want to treat us.
I’m just practically saying, don’t waste my money. We’re one of the most conservative states, so our judicial system here at the state level is conservative.
I know whoever got that (lawyer) contract, they’re happy. There is no expectation for you to win. All you gotta do is keep putting us in court and you’re wracking up billable hours out the wazoo. So, my fight becomes the process. Transparency, accountability, that is what I want to fight more for.
Bri Hatch covers Memphis-Shelby County Schools for Chalkbeat Tennessee. Reach Bri at bhatch@chalkbeat.org.