This report, which focuses on plans for a new school in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of two case studies focused on new public schools. In partnership with Enterprise Community Partners and their partners in these communities, we explored how two school openings affected access to opportunities for children. The case studies aim to understand the decisionmaking behind new school openings—why a new school is planned, where it is sited, how its facilities are designed, and where its boundaries are drawn—and the implications for racial and socioeconomic equity.

Why This Matters

High-quality public school facilities support more resilient communities and better academic and health outcomes for students. But there is widespread underinvestment in capital construction and maintenance for school buildings across the US and inequitable school conditions between lower- and higher-income districts. Our case studies draw lessons from underfunded school districts in need of new school facilities. School districts making these investments have the opportunity to prioritize equity, elevate community voices, and collaborate with housing sector partners to ensure school planning is informed by community priorities and leveraged as part of a comprehensive approach to advance opportunity and mobility.

Key Takeaways

• Memphis-Shelby County Schools is addressing a backlog of facilities needs in underresourced schools and needs greater funding support from local, state, and federal resources to ensure intra- and interdistrict equity.
• In Memphis, because of two new state laws that facilitated suburban school district secession, Memphis-Shelby County Schools is required to sell a high school and build a new school as a replacement. This project is underfunded and poses a financial burden for the district as it tries to address other facilities needs. Recent local decisionmaking around the school site has set back planning for the school.
• The school planning process would benefit from deeper and more sustained community engagement to inform district decisions and garner community buy-in for facilities and other projects.
• Memphis-Shelby County Schools has the opportunity to form deeper partnerships with the housing sector to collaboratively plan for new schools and school closures.

How We Did It

We selected case study sites from places where Enterprise Community Partners, our funder, had strong existing partnerships. We focused on a single school opening in each community. To document the story of the school openings, we interviewed several stakeholders in each place who were involved in the school opening and the community, did desk research using publicly available resources, and analyzed school data. Our collaboration with Enterprise and their local partners in each place informed our case studies with local expertise and allowed us to contribute to partners’ work locally.