MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Memphis-Shelby County Schools opens the 2026-27 school year on Monday, August 3. The Shelby County Commission, the taxing authority that funds the district, has not approved its budget.

The school board passed the spending plan in late May and sent it to the Commission. It has sat there since. Commission leaders have not given a public explanation for the delay, according to reporting by Action News 5.

The district now plans to bring an amended version to the Commission on August 10, a week after classes begin. Officials said the amended figure is closer to $1.8 billion than the $1.7 billion previously reported, with additional grant funding accounting for the increase. The amendment also converts an $11 million line for a new school building into deferred maintenance across existing schools.

Under the district's presentation of the plan, Shelby County provides $620 million, the State of Tennessee $733 million, and the federal government $305 million. The City of Memphis, which is not legally required to fund the district, contributes $1.3 million. MSCS projects enrollment of 103,553 students across 212 schools.

The county's own finances

Four days before school opens, on July 27, commissioners approved borrowing $125 million.

The money is primarily to make payroll for the county's roughly 4,600 employees, according to Action News 5. It is the second time in seven months the county has borrowed to cover operating expenses, following a $43 million loan in November 2025. The borrowing is structured as tax and revenue anticipation notes, a short-term instrument repaid when property tax revenue arrives between December and February, and is to be repaid before June 30, 2027.

One detail in that transaction has not received much attention. The Tennessee Comptroller's Division of Local Government Finance received the county's request on July 20. Because the county's fiscal 2026 budget was never approved by the state, the county had to request an emergency waiver in order to issue the debt at all, as state law requires. A Comptroller spokesperson said the office had no concerns with the request and expected to approve it.

The Comptroller's office also said it anticipated the county's fiscal 2027 budget would be filed before its August 31 due date.

So the body that has not yet approved a $1.8 billion school budget is itself operating without a state-approved budget from the prior fiscal year, and needed a waiver tied to that fact to borrow money for payroll.

What the officials say

Commissioner Charlie Caswell Jr. said the timeline is routine. "This is nothing new", he said, describing the sequence as how the process has always worked, and suggesting the attention reflects the scrutiny the district is under rather than an irregularity. That is a substantive defense and the record partly supports it: school budgets here are customarily approved after the county budget, which was adopted June 29.

County Mayor Lee Harris said the state's involvement with the district has complicated the budget process, including efforts to find an auditor. Asked about the county's own financial condition, Harris said he was not aware of those issues, and said the state oversight board has had the largest impact on MSCS. The county has previously characterized anticipation notes as an ordinary cash-flow tool rather than new debt for new spending.

District and union leaders say classroom instruction will not be affected. Charlotte Fields, president of the Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, said preparations are in place for students.

Board member Tamarques Porter said the situation worries him but that he expects the county to meet its obligations. "It's a major concern, but we trust the county commissioners" to do their due diligence and file on time with the Comptroller, he said.

Why It Matters for Memphis

A school district can open without an approved county budget. Payroll runs, buses roll, and the doors open Monday. That is why this is easy to wave off.

What an unapproved budget removes is certainty about everything that is not payroll. Capital work, contracts and purchases sit against an appropriation the funding body has not voted on. The district is simultaneously operating under a federal court order that suspended a state oversight board which, if reinstated, would hold veto power over that same budget and approval authority over spending above $50,000. Two bodies have claims on this budget. One has not voted, and the other is enjoined.

The county's position compounds it rather than relieving it. A funding body that borrowed $125 million for its own payroll on July 27, under a waiver required because its prior-year budget was never state-approved, is not in a strong posture to absorb a surprise in a $1.8 billion appropriation it has not yet examined.

There is a real counterargument and it deserves its place. Caswell is correct that late school budget approval is the local norm, the district passed its own budget on time, and no one has identified a service the delay has cut. Nothing here shows harm to a student. It shows an approval that has not happened and a date, August 10, that falls after the school year starts.

Accountability Watch

Who is accountable: The Shelby County Board of Commissioners, chaired by Chairwoman Shante K. Avant, which must approve the MSCS budget and approved the $125 million borrowing. County Mayor Lee Harris and the county administration, which prepares the budget filed with the Comptroller. The Tennessee Comptroller's Division of Local Government Finance, which did not approve the county's fiscal 2026 budget.

What is pending: Commission approval of the Memphis-Shelby County Schools operating budget for 2026-27, and the county's own fiscal 2027 budget filing with the state.

Timeline: MSCS board passed the budget in late May 2026. County adopted its own budget June 29. County requested borrowing authority July 20. Commission approved $125 million July 27. Classes begin August 3. Amended district budget scheduled for presentation August 10. County budget due to the Comptroller August 31.

Status as of July 31, 2026: Unapproved. No public explanation for the delay has been identified.

How to verify: The Commission agenda and supporting documents are linked from shelbycountytn.gov and will show whether the MSCS budget appears on the August 10 agenda and under what resolution number. Request the borrowing resolution from the Minutes Department for the term, rate and fees. The Comptroller's Division of Local Government Finance can confirm the status of both the fiscal 2026 and fiscal 2027 county budget filings.

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