Members of the Tennessee Black Caucus of State Legislators issued a warning Monday to the state-run Achievement School District, which has the power to take over struggling schools. Lawmakers stopped just short of saying the ASD should disband.

The caucus
followed a Vanderbilt University study that found the district has been ineffective in its first four years. But the caucus uses harsher words, like “heavy-handed,” “sinister, and “scam.”

Nashville Rep. Brenda Gilmore called for the district — which often turns schools over to charter operators — to leave other schools alone until better results can be shown.

“Refocus on intense intervention with a small number of schools,” Gilmore said.

In Memphis, where the ASD runs more than two dozen schools, Rep. Joe Towns, Jr., says parents are dissatisfied.

“People feel as if they’re being dumped on. They’re tired of allowing their children to be used as test tube subjects,” he said. “What we cannot afford to do is utilize the children as another experiment, because even one year of under-productivity is going to impact our children.”

Distrust of the ASD prompted
at least 22 legislative bills last year. And Rep. Antonio Parkinson, also of Memphis, says the same may happen again.

“The nuclear option is we get legislation prepared and we shut the ASD down … we’re not saying that here,” he said. “What we’re asking the ASD to do is: Stand down. On your own.”

ASD leaders have asked for patience. But the lawmakers say other types of reforms being led by local school districts, such as the “innovation zone” in Memphis, are already proving themselves.