Chairman White, presiding over the House Finance Ways and Means Subcommittee, won subcommittee approval Thursday to advance House Bill 662, as amended, to the full Finance Committee. The measure would create an oversight board to work with the locally elected Memphis‑Shelby County Board of Education and would give the oversight board review authority over the district’s budget, contracts and some charter decisions.

The oversight board provision, adopted as amendment drafting code 7487, would place nine members on the panel appointed by the governor and the two legislative speakers; the panel would be composed of appointees drawn from the Memphis‑Shelby County district and serve an initial three‑year term with an optional three‑year extension. "It's an oversight board," Chairman White said, adding the amendment was intended to "work with the current board, but [have] authority" to request changes. "It's not a state takeover, by the way," he said.

The amendment narrows the panel's focus largely to budget and contracting authority. Under the amendment, the locally elected board must submit its proposed budget to the oversight board; the oversight board would have veto authority "if they think there's any part of the budget that should be relooked at," White said. The amendment also includes a provision that the local board should not approve contracts over $50,000 without oversight‑board approval and requires the local board to submit a list of vacant or underutilized properties for review.

Supporters said the change targets long‑running performance and facilities problems in the district. White told the committee the district operates on an approximately $1.8 billion annual budget, roughly $900 million of which comes from state funds, and said the district has "over a billion dollars of deferred maintenance" across an estimated 150 to 200 school buildings. Vice Chair Gillespie told members she backed the bill and said oversight was long overdue for Memphis.

Opponents and questioners raised procedural and scope questions. Representative Parkinson asked whether the bill would apply retroactively to events that occurred before enactment; White said the measure responds to ongoing deficiencies and to conditions "that are going on now." Representative Shaw questioned whether sufficiently qualified people would take the oversight roles given longstanding frustration with the local board; White said he believed there are qualified candidates in Memphis but said the oversight board must have authority to effect change.

The amendment also alters part of the charter‑approval process: while the local board could authorize a charter application, the oversight board would review local denials and would have authority to overturn a denial. White said appointees "will be highly qualified people from the district" with K‑12 experience.

Committee members also discussed student achievement statistics and past state interventions: speakers referenced third‑grade reading proficiency and the Tennessee Achievement School District, with one committee member noting past multibillion‑dollar state investments that did not produce expected results. White and other supporters said the proposal is a local intervention targeted to Memphis‑Shelby County Schools and framed it as an effort to protect statewide funding equity.

Madam Clerk announced the voice vote result: "The aye's do have it. House Bill 662 as amended goes to full finance." The subcommittee record does not show an itemized roll call tally in the transcript excerpt.

Votes at a glance: House Bill 662 (Agenda item 65) — Amendment drafting code 7487 adopted; bill advanced to full Finance Committee.

The subcommittee recessed at the call of the chair; full Finance Committee was scheduled to begin shortly after the subcommittee adjourned.