Tennessee is intervening in the local education system following the Memphis school district’s systemic failures, with Shelby County assuming administrative control of the city’s educational institutions.

If the original intention had been realized, the outcome might have been favorable. Unfortunately, the city’s intervention in county school administration has led to a dramatic decline in educational quality. What was once a top-performing school system has now become the state’s lowest-ranked, a transformation that occurred with remarkable speed.

School administrators are attempting to support the MSCS System, though their efforts seem unlikely to yield positive results. Despite my skepticism, I acknowledge the possibility of being mistaken.

However, as I see it, those in charge of defending the system do have significant motivation. They do stand a chance of losing all the power they have managed to accumulate. Worse, if the state intervenes and transforms it into a model system, it will expose their incompetence. Well, it might also reveal a lack of desire to create an effective system. That would be difficult for the democratic leaders in the school to defend. THAT might have national, or at least regional problems for the dems.

Now, in defense of the system, I do have a good suggestion: Before the state takes over, make the school system work.

Despite the potential for meaningful education reform, political realities and established relationships with teacher unions make significant changes unlikely.