A measure that would clear the way for Tennessee cities to form municipal school systems has passed the House.
Republican Rep. Curry Todd of Collierville sponsored the proposal that passed 70-24 Monday. The companion bill was also scheduled to be taken up by the full Senate. The legislation would lift a 1998 ban that forbids municipalities from starting their own school systems. It would benefit six Memphis suburbs seeking to bypass a merger of the Shelby County and Memphis school districts and run their own schools.