# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Please note that the ACS 3-year estimates have been discontinued.

The highest paying industries in Collierville, TN, by median earnings, are .

The closest comparable data for the census place of Collierville, TN is from the county of Shelby County, TN.

Medicare enrollees between the ages of 65 and 75 that have had treatment related to their diabetes and been categorized with the racial labels, either Black or non-Black, from the Dartmouth Atlas. The closest comparable data for the census place of Collierville, TN is from the county of Shelby County, TN.

In 2014, the Medicare enrollees in Shelby County, TN between the ages of 65 and 75 had 5,405 eye exams, 7,824 hemoglobin tests, and 7,406 lipid tests as part of their diabetes care. Here is a breakdown of each test by race as a percentage of enrollees with diabetes.
Dataset: Source:

Female Medicare enrollees between the ages of 67 and 69 that have been classified with the racial labels, either Black or non-Black, from the Dartmouth Atlas. The closest comparable data for the census place of Collierville, TN is from the county of Shelby County, TN.

In 2014, out of the 6,410 women in 3,864 had mammograms. This chart looks at the change in percentage of Black and non-Black Medicare enrollees who had mammograms from Shelby County, TN between the ages of 67 and 69 enrolled in medicare, 2010 to 2014.
Dataset: Source:

The closest comparable data for the census place of Collierville, TN is from the metropolitan statistical area of Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area.

Most common student race or ethnicity

In 2015 the majority of students graduating from institutions in Memphis, TN-MS-AR Metro Area were White. These 6,552 graduates mean that there were 1.07 times more White graduates than the next closest race/ethnicity group, Black or African American, with 6,131 graduates.
Dataset: Source:

In 2016, the median property value in Collierville, TN grew to $278,600 from the previous year's value of $272,800.

The following charts display, first, the property values in Collierville, TN compared to other geographies and, second, owner-occupied housing units distributed between a series of property value buckets compared to the national averages for each bucket. In Collierville, TN the largest share of households have a property value in the $300k-$400k range.
Dataset: Source:

Using averages, employees in Collierville, TN have a shorter commute time (23.7 minutes) than the normal US worker (25 minutes). Additionally, 1.21% of the workforce in Collierville, TN have "super commutes" in excess of 90 minutes.

The chart below shows the average travel time in Collierville, TN compared to its parent geographies.
Dataset: Source:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Collierville, TN has a population of 48,005 people with a median age of 40.2 and a median household income of $110,591. Between 2015 and 2016 the population of Collierville, TN grew from 47,434 to 48,005, a 1.2% increase and its median household income grew from $110,084 to $110,591, a 0.46% increase.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Compare Crime Rates Nashville-Davidson, TN - Memphis, TN

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Nashville-Davidson, Tennessee - Memphis, Tennessee detailed profiles

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Tara O'Quinn lives near Uptown and works out East. On most days, that means planning ahead to catch the bus.

"If I`m heading somewhere I need to be there maybe, nine o-clock, I need to be here two hours early."

O'Quinn says on the days she has to be at work at 6:00 a.m. catching the 5:15 bus means being up before 3:00 a.m.

She works in retail, and like many, faces limitations with public transportation.

"As you know, better job opportunities are farther out and the buses typically don`t go that far," said O'Quinn.

The 24-year-old's routine is a reflection of what many Memphians deal with on a daily basis.

Dr. Elena Delavega, of the University of Memphis, says the problems with transportation contribute to the cycle of poverty in Memphis.

"When people cannot get to work, when they cannot get to jobs, they will not have jobs."

And the problem is growing worse/

The latest statistics, compiled yearly by Delavega, show Memphis has the highest poverty and child poverty rate in the country among larger, metropolitan cities.

Poverty rates for 2016 increased for every race in Memphis.

The rates are higher for African-Americans at 32.3%. A look at median household incomes reveals blacks families earn roughly half than that of their white counterparts.

The 2016 poverty rate is 26.9 % and the child poverty rate is even worse at 44.7 % in Memphis.

"What that means and I want you to think about it, is that when you see a child walking down the street, when you see a child, there`s a 50-50 chance, there is yes, no, that that child is living in poverty."

Delavega says we won't solve child poverty without helping families, particularly mothers and it starts with jobs.

"Raising the minimum wage is an essential first step in eliminating poverty. Poor families have poor children."

Delavega says the other two critical steps are an efficient and effective public transportation system; along with high quality, affordable child care.

She also says the entire community must realize poverty is everyone's problem.

"The reality is, unless we all come out together, we will all sink together."

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Statistics show poverty increasing in Memphis in 2016

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Tara O'Quinn lives near Uptown and works out East. On most days, that means planning ahead to catch the bus. "If I`m heading somewhere I need to be there maybe, nine o-clock, I need to be here two hours early." O'Quinn says on the days she has to be at work at 6:00 a.m.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Darnesha Qualls was shot and killed last year by her high school sweetheart.

Rachel Pool was gunned down by her ex-boyfriend.

Ashley Kimes was stabbed to death by her boyfriend.

The three were among 13 women killed in domestic violence incidents in Memphis in 2016. Statewide, about 60 women are murdered by men annually.

CLOSE

Tennessee ranked fourth among states with the highest rates of women killed by men, according to a recent report by the Violence Policy Center.

Tennessee has placed among the top 10 states in the Violence Policy Center's study for the past eight years.

As October's annual observance of Domestic Violence Awareness Month continues nationwide, police, prosecutors, and community advocates in Memphis say their work against domestic violence is ongoing.

Police tackle domestic violence

Buy Photo

October 27, 2016 - Men, and women, in high heels walked up the cobble stones of Beale Street and one mile around downtown for the 6th annual "Walk a Mile in Her Shoes" event. The walk, organized by the Memphis Area Women's Council, was to draw awareness to domestic violence and domestic abuse. The one mile walk began and ended at Handy Park on Beale Street. (Photo: Stan Carroll, The Commercial Appeal)

Memphis police Major J.D. Smith is new to the police department's domestic violence unit.

Smith, a 23-year veteran, was a assigned to head the unit in August.

"We have such a low clearance rate with domestic violence cases because it is such an intimate and emotional situation and a lot of the times the victims don't cooperate," Smith said. "It is a difficult bureau to work in because you just can't dismiss these cases because this could really result in death."

Sgt. Arlanda Jackson, a senior investigator with the unit for the last five years, knows this firsthand.

Jackson is one of 18 investigators assigned to investigate the 60 to 70 domestic violence incidents a day in the city.

"It can be hard because some of the people that have sat across from you at your desk aren't here anymore," Jackson said.

There have been 22 domestic violence-related homicides in Memphis this year.

Prosecutors with the Shelby County District Attorney's domestic violence unit said they have brought charges against six people in these homicides.

The domestic violence unit is the largest unit in the DA's office with 10 prosecutors assigned to handle 8,000 domestic violence cases a year, said Asst. Dist. Attorney Theresa McCusker, the division leader for the unit.

The prosecutors and police have partnered with the Family Safety Center of Memphis and Shelby County to help victims. Memphis police and the Shelby County Sheriff's Office DV units are on the same floor of the center on Madison Avenue.

The center helps victims escape abusive relationships. It opened in 2011 and is an inclusive place that provides resources to those in gay, straight and transgender relationships.

"When a crime occurs and it is someone who you love committing the crime against you obviously it is very difficult," McCusker said. "We are talking about families here. Nobody wants their family broken up. Nobody wants this to happen inside their family, but unfortunately way too much of it happens in our community."

Whitehaven Church stands against violence

Rev. Sonya Hunt, the pastor of Fountain of Living Praise International, a nondenominational church in Whitehaven, was busy on a recent Thursday putting together boxes that contained brochures that she hopes will save someone's life.

"The brochures have information about the Family Safety Center," Hunt said. "We plan to deliver the brochures to 50 churches so they can put them in their women's bathrooms. We figured that the bathrooms were the best place to help women that may be embarrassed or ashamed to ask for help."

For the last five years since moving to her church to Whitehaven, Hunt has taken a stand against domestic violence.

After learning from police that Whitehaven was one of the top hotspots for domestic violence in the city, she invited Shelby County Asst. Dist. Attorney Marianne Bell to do domestic violence workshops at her church.

"After the workshops, we noticed like the next year a 25 percent drop in domestic violence in that area," Bell said. "And it has continued."

Hunt has also continued with her annual outreach campaigns against domestic violence. Every year right before Labor Day her church hosts a family festival with the focus being on domestic violence.

Church member Barbara Love, a survivor of domestic violence, is thankful for her pastor's efforts to combat domestic violence.

"I am glad Pastor Hunt is doing this to let people know that domestic violence is not a joke in our community," Love said.

Love said she was in three abusive relationships before finally leaving and getting help from friends and her church.

"My message to anyone in a domestic violence relationship is you choose life or you choose death. I chose to live," Love said.

Family Safety Center helps assess victims' immediate and long-term needs: 901-222-4400

YWCA operates a crisis hotline and a shelter: 901-725-4277

National Domestic Violence Hotline to talk to an advocate about domestic violence: 1-800-799-7233

Shelby County Crime Victims Center can help victims get orders of protection: 901-222-3950

Memphis Police Domestic Violence Unit will talk to victims about incidents of domestic violence: 901-636-3741

Memphis Area Legal Services can help victims get orders of protection: 901-523-8822

CasaLuz organization provides services for Hispanic victims of domestic violence in Memphis and Shelby County: 901-500-8214

Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2yoYEpg

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memphis police, community unites against domestic violence

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Darnesha Qualls was shot and killed last year by her high school sweetheart. Rachel Pool was gunned down by her ex-boyfriend. Ashley Kimes was stabbed to death by her boyfriend. The three were among 13 women killed in domestic violence incidents in Memphis in 2016. Statewide, about 60 women are murdered by men annually.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and combat poverty, a new report from the National Civil Rights Museum and the University of Memphis says progress on poverty is mixed.

The report focuses on Shelby County and says that though African-Americans have made gains in education and increasingly work in white-collar jobs, those advances haven't translated into equal money. The report says racially-associated poverty and income inequality persist in the area today.

"We cannot exclude half of us and expect that our community is going to be fine," the lead author of the report, Elena Delavega, told an audience of about 200 at the museum Tuesday night. "Because it's not. Ultimately, it catches up with us. So there is a lot of work that remains to be done. (Most) importantly, what are we doing about those wages?"

► Weathersbee: Poverty plagues Memphis. It should expect to be called out on it

Delavega is an associate professor of social work and associate director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis.

Her findings are based largely on U.S. Census data ranging from 1950 to 2016.

As panelists at a discussion Tuesday noted, the report is not surprising to people who know the city well. Yet the report will likely influence conversations about Memphis just as national and international attention focuses on the city for the anniversary of the King assassination on April 4.

And the release of the report follows a high-profile flap between Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland and CNN commentator Angela Rye over her comments here Saturday criticizing city leadership for the perceived lack of progress during the past 50 years. Strickland defended the city's record and some argued the exchange made him look petty.

The document's full name is "The Poverty Report: Memphis Since MLK: How African-Americans and the poor have fared in Memphis and Shelby County over the past 50 years."

"It's the story of a city that is stuck," said Dr. Kenneth S. Robinson, president and CEO of the United Way of the Mid-South.

He was one of the panelists who discussed the report following Delavega's presentation.

Buy Photo

Professor Elena Delavega, associate director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis, presents her study on poverty in Memphis before a full auditorium at the National Civil Rights Museum on Feb. 27, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Connolly / The Commercial Appeal)

Panelist Josh Spickler with the Just City criminal justice project criticized the city's criminal justice policy, saying city leaders were trying old tactics that harm communities and don't reduce crime - for instance, pursuing heavier sentences for gun crimes.

Brad Watkins with the Mid-South Peace and Justice Center said the city government spends the bulk of its budget on police and fire services, with little left over to address longstanding social issues. "We're not going to police and fire our way out of this."

Mayor Strickland recently defended anti-crime efforts, saying in response to Rye, "Here in Memphis, though, citizens from every neighborhood are fed up with crime and tell me often how they want to punish those who commit violent acts. I stand with Memphians on this."

Progress

Delavega's report notes progress in education. In 1970, for instance, only 16 percent of African-Americans in Shelby County had completed at least a high school diploma, and 4 percent had completed a bachelor's degree.

In 2016, the proportion of African-Americans who had completed at least a high school diploma had risen to 86 percent, and 20 percent had completed at least a bachelor's.

By comparison, 94 percent of whites in Shelby County had at least a high school diploma in 2016, and 43 percent had at least a bachelor's.

The proportion of African-Americans in white-collar jobs had risen, too. In 1970, 21 percent of African-Americans in Shelby County did these jobs, and by 2016, the proportion had risen to 53 percent.

Buy Photo

Professor Elena Delavega, associate director of the Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change at the University of Memphis, presents her study on poverty in Memphis before a full auditorium at the National Civil Rights Museum on Feb. 27, 2018. (Photo: Daniel Connolly / The Commercial Appeal)

Problems

But economic conditions for African-Americans in Shelby County remain far worse than those of whites, and better education isn't doing enough to fix them, the report said.

"On this 50th anniversary of Dr. King's cruel assassination, and more than fifty years after the passage of the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act, African-Americans still lag far behind whites in Shelby County ... Poverty for African-Americans in Shelby County is three times that of whites, and median income for African-Americans has remained about half that of whites through the decades."

In 2016, about 8 percent of the county's white population lived in poverty, while the percentage of African-Americans in poverty was 29 percent.

"An embarrassing number of African-American children continue to live in poverty in Shelby County," the report says.

According to the report, 48.3 percent of African-American children in Shelby County live in poverty. That's almost half of all children, and it's more than four times higher than the percentage of white children in poverty in the county: 11.4 percent.

The median household income for white people in Shelby County in 2016 was nearly $70,000, while for African-Americans it was about $36,000.

And the report says African-American communities have been hit disproportionately hard by enforcement of drug laws. Criminal convictions make it harder for ex-felons to get jobs, contributing to unemployment, Delavega wrote.

Next steps

Panelists made various suggestions for what to do next. "Elections aren't everything, but they're incredibly important," Watkins said.

He said local offices matter a lot and cited the example the Juvenile Court Clerk's office, which administers issues like child support and affects thousands of people.

Wendi Thomas with the MLK50: Justice Through Journalism initiative said society should identify the people and institutions who profit from poverty. "What if poverty isn't an accident but a robbery?" she said, citing a question posed by the scholar Matthew Desmond. "I think it is a robbery. The thieves have names."

She said people should pressure businesses that don't pay a living wage, and lobby the government not to give them subsidies.

Churches can play a role in social change by working in the local community, said Stacy Spencer, pastor of New Direction Christian Church. "So many of us are so busy trying to do church that we fail to be church," he said.
Reach reporter Daniel Connolly at 529-5296, daniel.connolly@commercialappeal.com, or on Twitter at @danielconnolly.
Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2ouCjTM

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
MLK50 poverty report notes progress, problems in Memphis since 1968

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support a sanitation workers' strike and combat poverty, a new report from the National Civil Rights Museum and the University of Memphis says progress on poverty is mixed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
CLOSE

While a film about a fictional African nation with unlimited power and resources was setting records at the box office, there were reminders of a harsh reality: The social and economic goals for African-Americans set by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. a half-century ago have not been fulfilled.

While "Black Panther" was approaching $1 billion in sales, " Memphis Since MLK," released by the National Civil Rights Museum in partnership with the University of Memphis Benjamin L. Hooks Institute for Social Change, revealed data confirming the disproportionate prospects for success between white and African-American members of this community.

Meanwhile, a coalition of faith-based groups and the director of Howard University's leadership and public policy center reported that goals outlined in the Kerner Commission report 50 years ago - dealing with unemployment, segregation, poverty, media coverage and substandard housing among African-Americans - remain largely unrealized.

More: Original draft of Martin Luther King Jr. speech to go on display at University of Memphis

More: MLK50 poverty report notes progress, problems in Memphis since 1968

And back in Memphis, CNN commentator Angela Rye, delivering the keynote address at the city's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the Memphis sanitation strike and King's assassination, claimed that city policies were contributing to a disproportionately black prison population, drawing a sharp rebuttal from Mayor Jim Strickland.

Memphis poverty report, 1968-2018 (Photo: National Civil Rights Museum)

"Memphis Since MLK," authored by Dr. Elena Delavega, assistant professor of social work at the University of Memphis, explored the question of "how African-Americans and the poor have fared in Memphis and Shelby County over the past 50 years."

The answer: Despite progress on the educational achievement front, the poverty rate for African-American children is rising, an income gap between black and white residents has actually gotten worse over the past eight years, and the disproportionate incarceration rate of African-American males, which seems to be at the root of a lot of problems, has gotten worse.

"There is no doubt that the rate of incarceration of African-American males since the late 20th century has had a dramatic impact on the unemployment rate for African-American males," the report concluded. "We can thus hypothesize that the removal of African-American men from the community has had a positive correlation to the increase in childhood poverty rates."

Of course, Dr. King and others of the civil rights era enjoyed much success fighting institutional racism. But they have not ended the discrimination that continues to prevent black children from reaching their social and economic potential.

"The poverty that excludes someone from visiting a restaurant or traveling by plane is as restrictive as the overt discrimination of 50 years ago," Delavega wrote. "... In some ways, perhaps in many ways, a life in poverty is often a life denied."

Buy Photo

MLK50 (Photo: The Commercial Appeal)

It would be a mistake to understate the importance of this issue. Efforts to create new opportunities for businesses led by African-Americans, fully fund public education and the like must be vigorous and ongoing. African-Americans who emerge from the criminal justice system must be provided with training and employment opportunities that will reduce their risk of returning.

The city's failure to close economic and cultural gaps between black and white residents serves as a brake on the economic health of the community as a whole. We all suffer the consequences in a county where so many people don't have a chance to experience a productive, fulfilling life. The lack of progress is simply unacceptable.

Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2HXKz6F

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Editorial | The dream is a far cry from reality in Memphis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Fifty years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. traveled to Memphis to support a sanitation workers strike and combat poverty, a new report from the National Civil Rights Museum and the University of Memphis says progress on poverty is mixed.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The world will be watching Memphis on April 4, 2018, not only to see how we commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but also to see how far we have advanced in our efforts to alleviate poverty.

Unfortunately, when they dig deeper, they will uncover that our metropolitan area has the highest rates of poverty (26.9%) and child poverty (44.7%) in the nation.

It will be critical for us to determine what outcomes, investments, priorities, programs and synergies will ensue thereafter. Our actions and intentions will need to be deliberate and collaborative.

It was refreshing to read the three recent Viewpoint guest columns by Rev. Richard Smith of the Urban Ministry Initiative, and City Council members Patrice Robinson and Kemp Conrad. All called for action to address systemic and generational poverty here and provided some examples of "where do we go from here."

To witness local clergy and civic leaders who have the passion and heart to see Memphis advance in an area that most see as daunting is heartening. As Albert Einstein so poignantly once said: "We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them."

We need a variety of perspectives and actions to maximize the opportunities ahead. For decades, even centuries, our systems of culture, policy, business and even community resources have been created by an uneven representation of who sits at the decision-making table.

In his guest column, Smith noted that we "lack a collective, consistent and constructive strategy for addressing poverty and human need in our city." He suggested that we "need a group that would meet regularly, push each other for new possibilities, resolve to develop a strategy different from the present..."

The United Way of the Mid-South agrees and we're excited to further engage in this work of bringing our community together for accelerated change.

Last Thursday, United Way of the Mid-South hosted a round-table discussion called the Feast of Dreams. A cross-section of dozens of local leaders participated from faith, business, young professionals, educators, health leaders, financiers, nonprofits, government, low-income residents, and others.

The question of the evening: "As the most generous and poorest city, how do we all unite to make fighting poverty a priority for this community?"

The discussion was a microcosm of United Way's larger work to combat local poverty while heightening the awareness of how we got here, how we avoid being stuck here, and generating some novel solutions to move the needle on local poverty.

United Way is spearheading a new initiative called Driving The Dream. It's a system of care network of human services agencies seeking to transform the lives of families and individuals in generational poverty. How? By working better together to help clients devise a plan for their future and assist them in achieving the goals outlined in that plan.

We plan to work collaboratively to help struggling individuals and families live the life of their dreams. United Way has completed the major system design work, recruited a number of community partners to join the network, and garnered considerable early support from local and national key philanthropists -- Kresge Foundation, Assisi Foundation, Kathy and JW Gibson, and the Urban Child Institute.

We will be launching the system in early 2018. As with many great things happening in the city, we need to open this work up and allow the entire community to see how they can plug-in. The year ahead will be our time to show more fully what United Way is uniquely positioned to be: A convener for community, a catalyst for change, and a leader in creating lasting impact.

The anti-poverty plans outlined last week by City Council will aid in seeing a different future for this community and for the most vulnerable -- our children. The greater Mid-South also has to explore and develop investments that will deliver sound, results-oriented strategies to help support the adults in need in this community.

Children who live in poverty live with adults in poverty. Both are faced with unique circumstances and reasons why they remain stuck in poverty, but we cannot help one group without helping the other. We can educate a child, provide that child food security, but in the end that child still lives with an adult who lives in poverty so addressing the needs of both parent and child as a community is imperative.

The time is now for us to replace temporary fixes with long-term solutions. For our part, we will be inviting elected officials, faith leaders, philanthropic entities, and the business community to sit down with us at United Way of the Mid-South to move into 2018 working in tandem for change.

Poverty will not win, if and when we are willing to collaborate to combat this epidemic. We can no longer wait. We must act now.
Lori Spicer Robertson is chief communications & engagement officer for United Way of the Mid-South. To learn more about Driving the Dream, visit uwmidsouth.org.

Lori Spicer Robertson (Photo: United Way of the Mid-South)

Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2BXzob1

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Uniting to fight generational poverty in Memphis

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The world will be watching Memphis on April 4, 2018, not only to see how we commemorate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but also to see how far we have advanced in our efforts to alleviate poverty.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Collierville will soon become the only school system in Shelby County to charge tuition for students who don't live within its city limits.

During its last meeting of the year, the Collierville School Board approved a change in its enrollment policy that will require students who live outside Collierville but still in Shelby County to pay $400 a year in tuition.

The tuition won't apply to the children of non-Collierville residents whose parents work for the school district.

Tuition kicks in for the 2018-19 school year, part of a wealth of changes that include a revised transfer policy, a new zoning map for elementary and middle school students and the opening of a new $94 million high school.

Aerial photo of the new $94 million Collierville high school construction site. (Photo: The Town of Collierville)

Collierville school officials believe it's fair.

School funding comes from the federal government, the state, the county and Collierville sales and property taxes.

"We just felt like there are a number of things that are covered by the town which may not be completely covered for those kids when they come in," said Mark Hansen, school board chairman.

Families that live Collierville's annex reserve area probably shop in Collierville, Hansen said.

"So you have to assume they're going to pay some sales taxes that are going to go to the schools," he said.

But they don't pay property taxes, which helps cover expenses like the extensive roadwork near the new high school at Shelby Drive and Sycamore Road or the police officers who work as school resource officers.

Collierville's schools are filling, with all of the five elementary schools at at least 90 percent capacity.

More: Collierville School Board approves redistricting plan

The recently approved redistricting plan will impact out-of-district transfers.

But, school system officials say this isn't a tactic to discourage transfer requests and that out-of-district students are welcomed when space is available.

"Collierville Schools works to accommodate families in many situations. As an example, we have established a tuition cap of $1,000 per household, regardless of the number of students in that household who are actually enrolled in Collierville Schools," said Jeff Jones, chief of staff.

Other school districts in the state charge tuition as well, including Kingsport, Johnson City, Bristol and Maryville City Schools in East Tennessee, where parents outside of the city limits pay $2,200 a year per child.

Tuition was written into the city charter when the school system was created, said Mike Winstead, Maryville director of schools.

"Basically, what we do is our tuition rate is equal to the amount that the city of Maryville allocates per student," Winstead said.

State law prohibits local school systems from charging more than that amount and in Maryville, it's held steady for the past 10 years, he said.

The tuition students make up about 6 percent of the student population, with 50 percent discounts for city and school system employees, Winstead said.

In Collierville, they estimate that about 400 students will be required to pay tuition. Based on certain variables, like household sizes, the tuition revenues could generate from $120,000 to $160,000 next year, Jones said.

Germantown considered tuition for non-residents as recently as 2016.

However, it was never voted on and a discussion item on tuition was pulled from a January 2016 board agenda.

At that time, Germantown Superintendent Jason Manuel said he was not opposed to tuition, but a district competing as closely as it is with Collierville couldn't afford to alienate families.

"We have two school districts within a mile of each other," he said, noting the difference in ACT scores is a hair's breadth - 24 at Collierville and 24.1 at Germantown. "And one is about to have a $99 million high school."

Manuel also noted that if 34 students left, the district would lose $138,000 in state funding.

"Tuition is not going to balance that," Manuel said.

Students in Lakeland attend Arlington High School, but their families don't pay tuition.

"We do charge an annual tuition of $4,181 for any approved, out-of-county non resident students who attend our schools," said Jeff Mayo, Arlington Community Schools chief of staff.

Lakeland and Arlington have an interlocal agreement that requires Lakeland to pick up the local tab for the students attending Arlington High.

Back in Collierville, Hansen says they know money is tight and there is no intention to make tuition so high that attending a Collierville school is too steep for non-residents.

"We tried to come up with a figure that was not out of reach for a lot of families in the county," Hansen said.

Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2BD04gV

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Collierville to charge tuition for non-residents to attend public schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Collierville will soon become the only school system in Shelby County to charge tuition for students who don't live within its city limits. During its last meeting of the year, the Collierville School Board approved a change in its enrollment policy that will require students who live outside Collierville but still in Shelby County to pay $400 a year in tuition.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The 2014 exodus of six suburban towns from the newly consolidated Memphis school system is one of the nation's most egregious examples of public education splintering into a system of haves and have-nots over race and class, says a new report.

The Shelby County towns are among 47 that have seceded from large school districts nationally since 2000. Another nine, including the town of Signal Mountain near Chattanooga, Tenn., are actively pursuing separation, according to the report released Wednesday by EdBuild, a nonprofit research group focusing on education funding and inequality.

EdBuild researchers said the growing trend toward school secession is cementing segregation along socioeconomic and racial lines and exacerbating inequities in public education.

And Shelby County is among the worst examples, they say.

"The case of Memphis and Shelby County is an extreme example of how imbalanced political power, our local school-funding model, and the allowance of secession can be disastrous for children," the report says.

After the 2014 pullout, Shelby County Schools had to slash its budget , close schools under declining enrollment, and lay off hundreds of teachers. Meanwhile, the six suburban towns of Arlington, Bartlett, Collierville, Germantown, Lakeland and Millington have faced challenges with funding and facilities as they've worked to build their school systems from the ground up.

The report says Tennessee's law is among the most permissive of the 30 states that allow some communities to secede from larger school districts. It allows a municipality with at least 1,500 students to pull out without the approval of the district it leaves behind or consideration of the impact on racial or socioeconomic equity.

"This isn't a story of one or two communities. This is about a broken system of laws that fail to protect the most vulnerable students," said EdBuild CEO Rebecca Sibilia. "This is the confluence of a school funding system that incentivizes communities to cordon off wealth and the permissive processes that enable them to do just that."

The Shelby County pullout is known in Memphis as the "de-merger," which happened one year after the historic 2013 merger of Memphis City Schools with the suburban county district known as Legacy Shelby County Schools. The massive changes occurred as a result of a series of chess moves that began in 2010 after voters elected a Republican supermajority in Tennessee for the first time in history.

Under the new political climate, Shelby County's mostly white and more affluent suburbs sought to establish a special school district that could have stopped countywide funding from flowing to the mostly black and lower income Memphis district. In a preemptive strike, the city's school board surrendered its charter and Memphians voted soon after to consolidate the city and county districts. The suburbs - frustrated over becoming a partner in a consolidated school system they didn't vote for - soon convinced the legislature to change a state law allowing them to break away and form their own districts, which they did.

Terry Roland, a Shelby County commissioner who supported the pullouts, said the secession wasn't about race, but about having local control and creating better opportunities for students in their communities. "There are a lot of problems in the inner city and big city that we don't have in municipalities in terms of poverty and crime," Roland told Chalkbeat on the eve of the report's release. "We're able to give folks more opportunities because our schools are smaller."

The report asserts that money was at the root of the pullouts. Through taxes raised at the countywide level, suburban residents were financially supporting Memphis City Schools. The effort to create a special school district was aimed at raising funds that would stay with suburban schools and potentially doing away with a shared countywide property tax, which would have been disastrous for the Memphis district.

"What we're talking about here is the notion of people pulling out of a tax base that's for the public good," Sibilia said. "That's akin to saying you're not going to pay taxes for a library because you're not going to use it. ... You can see this as racially motivated, but we found it was motivated much more by socioeconomics."

The report asserts that funding new smaller districts is inefficient and wasteful.

The United States spends $3,200 more on students enrolled in small districts (of fewer than 3,000 students) than on the larger districts (of 25,000 to 49,999 students), according to the report. Small districts also tend to spend about 60 percent more per pupil on administrative costs.

Under Tennessee's current law, Sibilia believes the Shelby County de-merger is only the first of more secessions to come. She notes that Tennessee's law is similar to one in Alabama, where a fourth of the nation's secessions have occurred. Already in Chattanooga, residents of Signal Mountain are in their second year of studying whether to leave the Hamilton County Department of Education.

"There's a direct link between very permissive policies and the number of communities that take advantage of them," Sibilia said. "These policies are still relatively new in Tennessee. But I think a tsunami is coming as a result."
Editor's note: Details about the merger-demerger have been added to this version of the story.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memphis-Shelby County spotlighted in national report on school district secession

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The 2014 exodus of six suburban towns from the newly consolidated Memphis school system is one of the nation's most egregious examples of public education splintering into a system of haves and have-nots over race and class, says a new report. The Shelby County towns are among 47 that have seceded from large school districts nationally since 2000.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Memphis has a whopping poverty rate of 29.8 percent, according to The Mid-South Family & Community Empowerment Institute. Beyond those numbers, the 2015 poverty rate for children is 46.9 percent.

The questions many have is how do children even become part of the startling poverty rate? The Urban Child Institute says that poverty leads to low education. While Memphis is home to 45 charter schools, schools in low income communities still struggle to operate. These low socio-economic communities are mainly areas that are heavily blighted, full of abandoned homes, and good jobs.

Poverty not only affects a child's performance in school, but it also affects their ability to continue on to a successful adulthood. Adults like Michael White never considered college as an option because he didn't feel his upbringing equipped him for the college lifestyle-the lifestyle where one is mature and disciplined enough to complete school.

White who has owned a janitorial cleaning company called Well Done since he was 22, with 10 employees.

"Growing up in Orange Mound, nobody really ever talked to me about college," White said. "So it was pretty much left up to me to decide if I wanted to go or not."

"Well after graduating from Melrose High School, I got a job cleaning at the hospital," White said. He still remains proud of the job he did have.

White, and many of his peers are part of the 70.3 percent of high school graduates in Memphis. He started his business more than 30 years ago. White said that his business is proof that you don't need a college education to be successful in life.

The Memphis City Schools and Shelby County Schools officially merged on July 1, 2013. The merger officially stemmed from the city school's desire to be more financially stable.

Minorities rarely exist in schools outside of the inner-city school segment. When the merger took place, schools with more funding decided to become their own school district. Germantown High School is one of them, with only a 15 percent minority rate. However, Melrose High School in the Orange Mound neighborhood has a minority rate of 100 percent.

Those around Memphis feel as though race plays a factor in the poverty segment in education. The median household income of a family in Germantown is $154,000. These families, unfortunate to those in inner-city neighborhoods, can afford to send their children to better education systems. Some even attend charter schools. A family in the Orange Mound community is estimated to bring home $23,372 a year.

Orange Mound resident, Diane Waters, and her neighbors wonder what is to be done about the poverty in the education system. Parents want better for their children but Waters would even go as far to say that the inner-city schools should all be shut down. Waters also says the problem does not stop there.

"We all want out of this community," Waters said. "But children deserve to be out more than us adults do."

La Petite Academy sits far from the highway on New Allen Road. The school sits in the heart of North Memphis, not far from Hollywood Street. Next door to the academy is an apartment complex-the projects. Some buildings in the complex are boarded up, while some buildings have tenants leaning over the balcony watching their children play.

Inside is a school with children, ranging in ages from six weeks, to school agers, up to 10-years-old. The school walls are full of children's artwork and posters about child safety. School records indicate that more than 70 percent of the children enrolled are funded by the state. Many of those same children come from single parent homes where more expensive childcare is not an option, according to the academy's director. She sees first-hand what education in inner-city schools is like.

Tasha Greer, interim academy director of the New Allen La Petite location, is not from the Mid-South. In Greer's hometown of Atlanta where her career began, she witnessed the exact opposite of education in an impoverished society.

"It's evident that even some parents didn't grow up in the best environment," Greer said. You can tell in the way they raise their child or how they interact with their child."

Many of the students' parents are not over the age of 25, and some have multiple children enrolled in the academy.

"I feel like some of these parents would love to send their kids to a better school, but their pockets and FedEx salaries just won't allow it," Greer said.

"So they just do what they can do," Greer added. Almost half of the parents of the students enrolled are FedEx employees.

Early childhood education experts have conducted a number of studies that provided evidence of long-term outcomes of play-based learning. A 2002 US Study by Rebecca Marcon said that children who begin their education prior to their sixth year of school have better success with long-term education, past grade school.

Students in college settings still feel the effects of growing up in inner-city school systems, according to research conducted by Economist Brad Hersbein. College graduates from poor families were found to earn 91 percent more in their lifetime careers than high school graduates from the same income group. However, college graduates from upper-middle-class families earned 162 percent more in their careers than those with just a high school diploma.

Researchers point out that family resources during childhood and education are directly related. Children who are born to highly educated women receive the necessary attention from their parents (time and money) versus those born to women with lesser educations. Researchers go on to claim that poor students are receiving lower quality education than their "more affluent" peers.

Some Memphis college students, like Jasmine Smith, a student at Southwest Tennessee Community College, knows the value of an education. She grew up in a poor household in Binghampton with her siblings and cousins. She graduated from high school, just barely, but she never thought of herself as a smart person.

"I knew I needed to go to a college," Smith said. "I just didn't know nothing about how to do it."

Smith said she doesn't have very much confidence in herself or the way she speaks. She has aspirations to be an educator in a nice area to give other children what she wishes she had.

Studies show that the education system is a growing sector and that funding is being put into having proper schooling for children.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Poverty: The tie that binds Memphis to poor education

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Memphis has a whopping poverty rate of 29.8 percent, according to The Mid-South Family & Community Empowerment Institute. Beyond those numbers, the 2015 poverty rate for children is 46.9 percent. The questions many have is how do children even become part of the startling poverty rate?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Home >

VOL. 133 | NO. 59 | Thursday, March 22, 2018

Shelby County Schools superintendent Dorsey Hopson will have a formal proposal in about a month to raise the pay of all Shelby County Schools employees to at least $15 an hour.

Hopson announced the plan Tuesday, March 20, at a Shelby County Schools board work session citing a National Civil Rights Museum-University of Memphis study on poverty in Memphis since 1968.

"It is striking that the (poverty) level since 1968 in Memphis has actually gone up," Hopson said. "Income gaps have gone up. I've been thinking very deeply about how Shelby County Schools can try to, in its own way, in a responsible way, address some of the poverty concerns."

Hopson noting that many of the school system's 12,500 employees are the parents of SCS students as well.

He also quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. from a 1968 speech when King said many of those in poverty in America were citizens who went to work every day.

"Although we've made significant progress, we still have a way to go," Hopson said. "It allows us to make sure that our employees have a living wage."

Hopson's work on the idea so far includes an estimate that setting a $15-an-hour bar for employee pay will mean raises for about 1,200 employees or 9 percent of the school system's workforce, not counting those who work for vendors under contract to provide transportation and clean school property.

Most of the employees who would get the pay raise work in school nutrition, clerical jobs and the SCS warehouse, as well as school support staff.

SCS chief financial officer Lin Johnson said those now working for below $15 an hour make between $10 and $14.98 an hour, with most of that group making $13 to $14.50 per hour.

Raising the pay to $15 an hour and adjusting the pay schedule further up would cost $2.4 million, with $900,000 of that coming from operating or general funds. The rest would come from federal and state funding.

"In our mind, it's minimum," Johnson said, "given the ability to provide economic equality."

Every school board member expressing an opinion Tuesday evening said they favored the move. Some wanted to make $15 an hour as minimum pay a condition of future contracts with vendors who provide services to the school system.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Shelby County Schools Plans Wage Increase

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home > VOL. 133 | NO. 59 | Thursday, March 22, 2018 Shelby County Schools superintendent Dorsey Hopson will have a formal proposal in about a month to raise the pay of all Shelby County Schools employees to at least $15 an hour.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Collierville Schools is undergoing a redistricting process for the 2018-19 school year that will impact all elementary schools, both middle schools and will create some disruptions for parents, said Superintendent John Aitken.

The school district will host two public meetings on the redistricting, with the first on Thursday and a second on Oct. 5. Both will be at 6:30 p.m. at Collierville High School, 1101 New Byhalia Road.

The new district map is also available online at Colliervilleschools.org.

The school district is trying to plan for the future and accommodate growth projections based on development maps for the town, along with other indicators, Aitken said.

All of the district's elementary schools are above 90 percent capacity, he said.

Buy Photo

March 4, 2014 - Collierville School Superintendent John Aiken. (Nikki Boertman/The Commercial Appeal) (Photo: Nikki Boertman, The Commercial Appeal)

Schilling Farms Middle School is being converted to an elementary school and the existing Collierville High School will be made into a middle school. A new $94 million high school will open in August 2018 and will be the largest high school in the state.

Those shifts and the growth of the school system made redistricting necessary, but there will be some considerations made for families, he said.

The district will allow an exit transfer that would, for example, allow a child in fourth grade this year to finish the fifth grade at his old school instead of attending a different elementary school

That child's parents would have to provide transportation, Aitken said

"We tried to keep feeder patterns in tact as much as possible on our proposal," he said.

So a child that is at Tara Oaks Elementary will still advance to Collierville Middle School.

"It's never fun and there're always going to be families impacted, but we feel like our proposal has done a pretty good job of minimizing the disruption," Aitken said.

Read or Share this story: http://memne.ws/2ytUxag

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Collierville's school rezoning means some kids will change schools

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Collierville Schools is undergoing a redistricting process for the 2018-19 school year that will impact all elementary schools, both middle schools and will create some disruptions for parents, said Superintendent John Aitken. The school district will host two public meetings on the redistricting, with the first on Thursday and a second on Oct.