Judge says Shelby County school board will have 7 members in 2013-14

The Shelby County (Tenn.) school board will have seven members in 2013-14 instead of 13, a federal judge has ruled. The Memphis Daily News says U.S. District Judge Samuel “Hardy” Mays was highly critical of plans by a majority on the Shelby County Commission to take the school board to 13 members next month by appointing six new members between now and then. Instead, Mays ruled the commission can take the school board to 13 members a year from Sept. 1 with the six new positions on the August 2014 county general election ballot. Right now, the school board has 23 members under terms of a 2011 settlement agreement that cleared the way for the Memphis and Shelby County districts to merge. Effective Sept. 1, the nine members of the old Memphis school board and the seven members of the old Shelby County Schools board go off the board.