Bartlett has reached a settlement with Shelby County Schools, WREG reported last night.
Bartlett, the largest suburb in the Memphis-area, will pay $7.3 million to Shelby County Schools to settle a lawsuit alleging that the suburban districts were motivated by “racially-discriminatory intent” and violate the state and federal constitution. The merged Shelby County school district will also deed the buildings within Bartlett’s limits to the city for a new municipal school district there.
The terms of the agreements are said to be similar to the settlements the district reached with Arlington and Lakeland on Tuesday. Those agreement were approved by the city councils in Arlington and Lakeland yesterday. This post about those agreements discuss the significance of the district’s settlements with the suburbs.
You can read here about Bartlett mayor A. Kevin McDonald‘s thoughts on why his constituents should have more local control over their schools.
Three suburbs – Germantown, Millington, and Collierville – are still finalizing agreements with the district. Board members said the agreements reached Tuesday were likely to serve as templates for the remaining agreements.
Germantown is farthest from reaching an agreement, as there is still contention about just which schools should be within the boundaries of the municipal district and which should remain within the merged school district.