The Memphis-Shelby County Schools Budget Grew by $119,595,046 Between the Printed Agenda and the Vote. No One From the District Was in the Room When It Passed.

SHELBY COUNTY COMMISSION

MEMPHIS, August 10, 2026 - The Shelby County Commission approved the Memphis-Shelby County Schools operating and capital improvement budgets for fiscal year 2027 in the amount of $1,799,354,177 on August 10, a figure $119,595,046 higher than the one printed on the committee agenda five days earlier.

The increase entered the record through a substitute resolution passed out during the August 5 Budget and Finance Committee meeting, after the original item had already been moved and seconded.

The vote at the full commission was seven in favor, four against, and two recusals.

What changed and why

The original resolution carried the figure $1,679,759,131, the amount the Memphis-Shelby County Schools board adopted on May 26, 2026. The parliamentarian read that number into the record at committee, then read a substitute caption carrying $1,799,354,177.

The committee chairman said the substitute changed both the amount and the date of approval, because the district budget had been amended to match the capital allocation the commission approved in its own budget.

The district's chief financial officer explained the difference. The original figure did not include additional capital deferred maintenance the commission approved on June 29, 2026. The district amended its budget in late July to include $11.9 million tied to that action, money commissioners had redirected from a proposed new building at Treadwell into deferred maintenance.

He then said the increase was larger than that $11.9 million, and gave the reasons. The district amended its general fund to include roughly $104 million in fund balance assignments, covering one-time items. He listed a textbook adoption of more than $20 million, about $4 million tied to closing schools and bringing two new schools online, more than $33 million in other facility investments, carried-forward purchase orders, student devices, funds set aside for judgments, background check services, an athletic investment, and virtual schooling. The district also amended for a summer learning grant.

He said that after those assignments the district remains at 21 percent fund balance, above the 15 percent ceiling in its own board policy, which requires the district to hold between 8 and 15 percent of expenditures.

The empty chair

At the August 10 commission meeting, the item drew extended discussion and no one from the school district was present to answer.

Commissioner Britney Thornton asked whether anyone from the district was in the room to take questions. No one was. She said it was not a good look for the district to be absent, that the body was discussing a budget in the billions, and that constituents deserve answers in real time.

Commissioner Mick Wright said the commission did not have a single member of Memphis-Shelby County Schools present to address questions on the budget. He noted the district had participated fully when the commission discussed synchronizing election dates, and said the absence was a bad look and that he could not support the item.

Commissioner Henri E. Brooks pushed back on the framing. She said she would not condemn equally elected officials for not being present, that she did not know whether the school board had received an invitation or a memo requesting their attendance, and that the body should work cooperatively rather than browbeat the school board with public taxpayer dollars.

Commissioner Charlie A. Caswell Jr. said a school board commissioner had sat outside for roughly 30 minutes and was not allowed through the gate to park, and that she had come to speak on the item.

What commissioners could not get answered

Commissioner Thornton asked where to find line item descriptions justifying the increase, and said she wanted to know how much funding goes toward students identified as homeless. Commissioner Miska Clay Bibbs asked for the document showing where capital improvement dollars are allocated by district and by school, and said it should have been included in the package. Commissioner Wright asked the county attorney what budget the district is currently operating on in the new fiscal year, and what happens if the commission never approves the district's budget. The county attorney said she would defer to the schools on the first question and did not know the answer to the second, and declined to guess.

Commissioner Amber Mills raised a separate thread. She asked why municipal school districts have not received their 15 percent share of capital improvement funding for fiscal years 2024, 2025 and 2026. The county finance director said Memphis-Shelby County Schools must spend its 85 percent before the county releases the municipal 15 percent, that fiscal 2024 funding was allocated for the East Campus, and that those funds have not been expended.

Commissioner Michael Whaley, who chairs Budget and Finance and sponsored the resolution, asked the finance director for an aging summary of capital dollars by year going back to fiscal 2024. She said the county used to include that schedule in its quarterly report, has not been able to produce it since transitioning to Oracle, and is working on it.

Commissioner Erika Sugarmon recused, stating on the record that she is a classroom teacher employed by the district. Vice Chair David C. Bradford Jr. recused, stating that his company holds a contract with the district.

The vote

Voting in favor: Commissioners Whaley, Clay Bibbs, Caswell, Szalaj, Brooks, Lowery, and Chairwoman Shante K. Avant.

Voting against: Commissioners Mills, Wright, Thornton, and Morrison.

Recused: Commissioners Sugarmon and Bradford.

Seven ayes, four noes, two recusals. The motion passed.

What happens next

The county finance director said the county has not yet submitted its final budget packet to the state, that it has been working with state reviewers on form and structure rather than figures, and that in her assessment the delay does not place the county in jeopardy with the state. She committed to producing an aging report of capital dollars by year in the county's quarterly report. Commissioner Whaley said the commission discussed changing the process so that future district budgets reach commissioners directly and can be prepared concurrently with the county budget. No resolution establishing that process was before the commission on August 10.

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