Tennessee State Senator Brent Taylor (R-Memphis) detailed how his focused push to reduce crime and overhaul public education is producing measurable progress in Memphis and advancing his pledge to “make Memphis matter.”
During an appearance Monday on The Michael Patrick Leahy Show, Taylor pointed to falling crime rates and a proposed state intervention in Memphis-Shelby County Schools as his current primary focuses for Memphis.
Taylor argued that for years, those two challenges have stunted Memphis’ growth and “held back” the city.
“There are two things that have prevented Memphis from growing. One is our crime rate and the other is the state of our public education in Shelby County,” he said.
He credited a coordinated push involving state leadership, including Governor Bill Lee, Tennessee House Speaker Cameron Sexton (R-Crossville), and U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), for helping turn the tide, particularly through a surge of resources, including law enforcement personnel, deployed to Shelby County.
Taylor also emphasized that consistent local pressure has been key.
“I think what has brought all that together was when I was elected to the Senate, I was able to just keep that going and keep everybody’s feet to the fire. While they may come down and help, their bandwidth prevented them from staying full time in Memphis. Just raising mortal hell about crime, that’s where I have been able to contribute to fill the gaps,” he said.
When it comes specifically to crime, Taylor noted, “Crime rate is down about 50 percent.”
Aside from public safety, Taylor said education reform remains the next major hurdle.
“We are gonna pass a school intervention bill this session,” he said. “And if it’s as successful as the Memphis Safe Task Force is, then we will be able to solve the two things that have been holding Memphis back and truly will make Memphis matter.”
The legislation, Taylor said, would authorize a state-approved board of managers to take control of Memphis-Shelby County Schools for three years. He said new findings from a forensic audit underscore the urgency.
“We hired an auditing firm that’s doing a forensic audit, and we’ve gotten some interim results of that, and it is so bad what the auditors are telling us. Matter of fact, the term they used was unprecedented,” he said.
Taylor went on to note the scale of the district and the state’s financial stake.
“The Memphis-Shelby County School system down there is a $1.5 billion enterprise. The state provides $900 million annually to the Memphis-Shelby County school system. One out of every seven education dollars in the state of Tennessee goes to Memphis and Shelby County, and we are not getting a return on our investment,” he said.
Under the proposal, the board of managers would be made up of Memphis residents with executive experience in running large organizations. Taylor said private-sector leaders are already stepping forward.
“We’re hearing from companies like FedEx that are gonna lend some high level executives to their effort to turn this school system around,” he said.
By concentrating attention on crime and education, Taylor argued Memphis is on firmer footing than it has been in years.
“We are headed in the right direction,” he said.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Image “State Sen. Brent Taylor” by State Sen. Brent Taylor.
