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Memphis-Shelby County school leaders are suing top Tennessee Republicans in an effort to stop a new takeover law from diverting power away from the locally elected school board to a new board of political appointees.
The district, alongside the Shelby County Commission and all nine individual board members, filed a lawsuit in federal court late Thursday night, hours after the Republican-appointed oversight board met for the first time in Nashville.
Gov. Bill Lee, who’s named directly in the lawsuit, signed the takeover legislation into law in late May. Lee’s office has not yet responded to a request for comment.