Another one bites the dust. No school board recall elections.

HB 2388, a bill that would have secured the ability for voters and parents in all 95 counties to petition to recall school board members, failed in the House Education Administration Committee. Honestly, this one is a bit of a shocker. We had broad support for this bill and really saw it passing.Show more

There is a history going back to 2019 on this bill where it passed, but only applicable to Madison County. In 2020, this was ruled unconstitutional by a Madison County judge. And frankly, the judge is right. But amending the law to make it applicable to all counties is indeed what would have made the law constitutional, which is one of the reasons we sought the amendment.

Now, this committee not only denied voters the right to recall school board officials but also opted to leave an unconstitutional law on the books.

Keep in mind that the metro charters of Davidson, Knox, and Shelby counties do allow their voters to recall locally elected officials, like school board members. So, this is not a novel concept in Tennessee. It just happens that state law does not allow this to happen statewide.

This issue is not going away. We promise.