The voter-approved merger between Memphis’ city schools and the Shelby County school district is legal, a federal judge has ruled, paving the way for the creation of a system with 150,000 students by 2013. The Memphis school board surrendered its right to exist last December to force a merger with the more successful county system. District Judge Samuel Mays ordered the county school board, which sued to block the merger, to plan to educate Memphis children after the districts combine.
A version of this article appeared in the August 24, 2011 edition of Education Week as Memphis Merger Declared Legal